All i need
by Sheen Shan
Summary: 7 years after cutting off contact with Soujiro and moving to the states,Yuki is back in Japan and this time she's brought a little girl with her,her daughter.Plus Soujiro is about to be married. Will they ever get their happy ending? S/Y
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.

**Chapter 1**

Two pleasant weeks had passed since Tsukushi's impromptu wedding, where Yuuki had stood in a turquoise dress acting as her friend's maid of honor. It made Yuuki feel ashamed to admit it, even to herself, but she was envious of Tsukushi. Despite the suffering that her friend had to go through, at least she'd somehow managed to endure it and attain the unconditional love of a man that would go to the ends of the earth for her. Yuuki was not so lucky in that way, she'd never been in a serious relationship before and her brief time with Nakatsuka was proof of the fact that she was unable to keep a man. It was during the two weeks after Tsukushi's wedding that she'd been thinking a lot about her feelings for F4's playboy Nishikado Soujiroh. She had hoped to tell him at some point that she was hopelessly in love with him but he was always busy, he never had enough time for her. She'd tried to tell him at several of his book signings but was unsuccessful. He seemed to always be in a hurry every time she arrived at the scene and he would flee from her like a mouse would from a cat.

Holding her feelings in was proving to be tough. She needed to move on with her life and she knew that she could only attain some form of closure if she heard the response to her confession of her feelings for him from his own mouth. She was no fool; she knew he wasn't interested in her, why should he have any reason to be? She was not attractive, nor did she have an indispensible amount of money. She was just plain and simple Yuuki but she needed him to tell her, it was for the sake of her heart, mind and soul that she needed to hear him say to her himself that he wasn't interested in her. She hadn't spoken to him in a few days; the last time she'd called him for a chat their conversation had lasted a total of fifty seven seconds. She sighed and stared accusingly at her cell phone on her desk as if trying to burn a hole through it. She had been staring at the wretched piece of technology before her for a good three minutes when the computerized version of Pachabell's Cannon in D broke through her thoughts.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Yuuki-chan?" came the voice of the very person that she had been thinking about.

"Nishikado-san?" she asked feeling the butterflies flutter in her stomach.

"Yuuki-chan I was wondering if you were free at the moment? I feel like talking to someone and nobody else is free so I thought I might call you" he said.

"Yes Nishikado-san I'm free at the moment where would you like me to meet you?" she asked feeling almost giddy with excitement.

Ten minutes later found Yuuki walking up the steps of the very building that she had shown Soujiroh Sara's message from. He was already there and waiting for her when she arrived.

"Yuuki-chan" he greeted her with a smile.

"Hello Nishikado-san" she replied with a bright smile.

"Sorry to have called you out here so last minute Yuki-chan" he said.

"Oh it's no problem" she replied waving her hand to dismiss his apology.

"You're really too good to me Yuuki-chan" he said with a laugh.

"Nishikado-san…" she said hesitantly.

"I have something to tell you" he said looking quite serious.

"Ok sure" she replied, her confession could wait.

"I'm going to get married" he exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air.

"Married?" she asked feeling like a bomb had dropped in her stomach.

"Yes, after Tsukasa's wedding, my parents decided that it was time for me to get married. So they found me a girl. She's the heir to Toyogo industries. They have companies all over the world and they manufacture steel. Although I'm not really a one woman type of guy, but maybe it's for the best" he replied. "After all I am the Nishikado heir so I should be doing what's best for my family and I feel surprisingly ok with this. It might actually be a good thing".

"Yes" she replied willing her tears not to fall. "Congratulations Nishikado-san".

"You have to help me Yuuki-chan; I don't know the first thing about getting married and all the preparations that need to be done. I know you're really good at designing and planning so it would be good if you could help with the decorations and the dress" he replied.

Yuuki nodded "I would love to help" she replied swallowing the lump that had risen in her throat. She tuned out over his babble and felt like a knife was slicing at her body with each word that he spoke. She could only smile politely and nod, it was what he expected of her and such was her nature.

* * *

An hour later, after wandering around aimlessly, she returned home. The house was empty; her parents would be back late. She went into the kitchen to find dinner waiting for her but she wasn't hungry. What she really felt in the mood for was a nice hot shower, something to help relieve her heartache.

She stripped out of her clothes and was about to climb into the warm bath that she'd run for herself when the phone rang. Putting on her robe, she answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Yuki?" drifted a familiar and comforting voice over the phone.

"Nee-chan?" Yuuki asked and a smile graced her features.

"Yuuki thank god you answered. For a moment I was afraid, I thought it might be mama. How are you? Instead of replying to your e-mail I thought I might call you instead".

"But nee-chan, this phone call must be expensive for you" Yuuki said looking worried.

"It's nothing" Yuuki's elder sister said dismissively. "I'm more concerned about you".

"Me? I'm fine nee-chan" Yuuki replied.

"Don't lie to me. I can hear the sadness in your voice. What has _he_ done now?" Reiko Matsuoka asked. Her tone had become a little defensive and yet it was filled with concern for her beloved sister.

"Nothing really, he didn't do anything except for the fact that he's going to get married" Yuuki replied woefully.

"What? The baka is going to get married?" Reiko asked with obvious shock. "I thought he was a no commitment sort of guy?"

"Well apparently not" Yuuki replied. "His parents have chosen a girl for him. Ever since Nishikado-san lost his first love, he hasn't found anyone else that can take her place. I guess he doesn't care, maybe he doesn't believe in love anymore" she remarked. "He's actually ok with it".

"Anyway Yuuki I think its time that you forget him. He's only going to cause you more pain. That kind of guy always does. It's better to be with someone who loves you that to be with someone you love, ok? By the way just to change topic a little, I sent the designs of the dresses that you gave me to a boutique here and they love it. They would like you to work for them, if you're still interested" she said. "They've already e-mailed you the job offer".

"Of course I'm still interested" she exclaimed "but New York is so far away, I'm not really comfortable about leaving Japan" she replied.

"But Yuuki, the change will be good for you" Reiko insisted. "You can stay with me and Mimura"- There was the sound of a car pulling in the driveway and Yuuki froze.

"Sorry nee-chan, it seems mama and papa are back. I'll talk to you some other time. If they find out I've been talking to you, they'll hit the roof" Yuuki whispered, cutting Reiko off. "Take care nee-chan and send my regards to Mimura-san".

Yuuki heard the key turn in the lock and seconds later her mother's face came into view. "Oh Yuuki, you're back already? Have you eaten dinner?"

"Yes mama don't worry about me, I've already eaten something" she replied and her mother smiled affectionately at her, stroking her hair.

"Are you sure you've eaten?" Her father asked from behind her mother. "You look a little unwell Yuuki, is everything ok?" he asked in concern and she smiled and nodded.

A little while later, Yuuki flopped down tiredly onto her bed. Her parents were always concerned about her. They'd been focusing almost all their attention on her since Reiko had eloped with Mimura. Reiko had been the one whom her parents had pinned all their hopes on. Reiko was brilliant, beautiful and to top it all she had an incredible personality. She was pleasant to be around and many proposals had come for her. Yuuki's parents had been exceptionally thrilled when owner of a chain of hotels, Aibe Sho, had come knocking on their door to ask for Reiko's hand. Aibe Sho was exactly the kind of man that Yuuki's parents wanted their daughter to marry. He was a few years older than Reiko but he was absurdly wealthy and thus would be able to go give her anything she wanted. But Reiko had a secret that she never told anyone except Yuuki, and it was that she was already in love with a boy named Daiso Mimura. He was her senior by one year, in his fourth year of university, the same one that Reiko herself was studying in. Although Mimura did Economics and Business management, by chance he had met Reiko who was a law student at the time and fate had thrown them together. Yuuki remembered it clearly, the day that Reiko left their house, vowing never to return till her parents accepted Mimura. It happened on the day of her sister's arranged engagement to Aibe Sho.

Everyone had gathered in the hall of Aibe Sho's hotel and they were all mingling about, proclaiming the compatibility of Matsuoka Reiko and Aibe Sho. Reiko who was supposed to be getting her hair and make up done was meant to make her entrance soon. Five minutes had passed then fifteen minutes, then half an hour and then finally an hour but Reiko was a no show. Her dressing room was bare and the make up artist had said that Reiko had excused herself an hour ago wanting to go to the toilet but she had not returned since. The Matsuoka family had suffered a great humiliation that night. Yuuki would never forget how her father got down on his knees and begged Aibe Sho for forgiveness on Reiko's behalf and she didn't think her father forgot it either. Yuuki returned home with her parents later that night to find a letter on her table. It stated that Reiko had eloped with Mimura and they were moving to New York because Mimura had gotten a job posting there. Yuuki had automatically forgiven Reiko after reading the letter. After all, all this occurred around the time when Yuuki was still in high school and had recently broken up with Nakatsuka. If Reiko could find love and happiness, then Yuuki was happy for her. But ever since that night, Reiko was dead in the eyes of Yuuki's parents. They never spoke about Reiko, nor did they keep in contact with her. As far as her parents were concerned, Yuuki was their only child.

Perhaps due to what happened with her sister caused Yuuki to be in love with the idea of love. She wanted to receive the same undying love that both her sister and Tsukushi had. Yuuki buried her face in her pillow, if only she wasn't so hopelessly devoted to Nishikado Soujiroh, she might be able to find another guy who might actually like her.

* * *

A few nights later, Yuuki had been invited by Akira to go to a new club opening. It was some club called club Intoxica and Yuuki had initially decided not to attend the function but Akira had called her at least twenty more times since his initial call to make sure that she was going to attend. She signed and pulled her coat around her. Something about this club gave her the chills. Akira got up from his seat between two older women and greeted her warmly.

"Yuuki-chan you made it" he exclaimed.

"Yeah I did" she replied.

"Come, take a seat" he said taking her by the arm and leading her to their private room".

It was upon her entrance that she noticed Soujiroh sitting at a private booth with at least ten women surrounding him. Yuuki cringed inwardly as he began to kiss one of the women's neck, it was always like this. He always seemed to choose any other woman, literally, except for her.

"Yuuki-chan?" he asked looking at her when he'd finished "what are you doing here?"

"I invited her" Akira cut in from behind her.

"Ah ok" Soujiroh replied dismissively and diverted his attention back to the woman beside him. "Oh where are my manners, would you like to join us Yuuki-chan?" he asked turning from his arm candy to look at Yuuki. He didn't even seem genuine in his invitation for her to join him. He couldn't even fake it. He couldn't even mean what he said. All he wanted to do was get back to the bimbos next to him.

Yuuki heard her sister's voice float into her head. _I think its time that you forget him. He's only going to cause you more pain. That kind of guy always does. It's better to be with someone who loves you than to be with someone you love._

Soujiroh didn't love her. Her nee-chan was right; being with someone who didn't love you was more agonizing than a slow torturous death. Plus he was going to get married soon; she had no right to love an almost married man. She felt something inside her snap. It was probably due to the years she had wasted chasing after unrequited love. It didn't matter that he didn't love her but he had no right to treat her like she was a piece of dirt or a doormat. "No Nishikado-san" she said with the courage that she could muster.

"Eh?" he asked looking at her like she'd grown an extra head, or maybe he always looked at her that way.

"I don't want to join you. Why should I join you when all you've ever done is hurt me? You say you're not interested in me yet you call me out and talk to me. You want me to help you with your wedding. You lead me on and then you shoot me down, it's like I'm some kind of rag doll that you toss aside every time you find a Barbie. I'm sick of this! No more, I'm not going to be hurt anymore" she exclaimed and without waiting for a reply she turned on her heels and walked away, leaving behind a very confused playboy.

* * *

"Yuuki-chan wait!" a voice called from behind her but she didn't slow her pace. The footsteps behind her quickened, and it wasn't long before the owner of the voice caught up to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she stopped in her tracks. "Yuuki-chan" he panted. She whirled around to face him.

"Akira-san?" she asked looking in bewilderment at the man before her.

"Yuu-Yuuki-chan" he panted.

"Why are you following me?" she asked.

"I just wanted to make sure you're ok, what was all that back there?" he asked pointing in the direction of the club.

"I guess I was just sick and tired of being his doormat" she replied truthfully. "He asked me to help him with the wedding preparations you know, and then he looks at me like I don't exist. I gave him everything and now I have nothing left to give. No more Akira-san, I'm not going to take it anymore" she replied.

"What are you going to do Yuuki-chan?" Akira asked and she shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm going to go away, far away from here. I'll go to America and live with my sister there" she replied.

"But Yuuki-chan, you've only just graduated from university don't you want to get a job here?"

"I've already got a job offer from a boutique in New York, they like my designs and they want me to work for them" she replied.

"You know Yuuki-chan leaving Japan may not necessarily be the best solution to this problem. You know the saying absence makes the heart grow fonder?" he asked.

"No Akira-san you got it all wrong" she said looking at him.

"Eh?" he asked.

She smiled at him sadly "out of sight, out of mind".

* * *

"Yuuki are you sure?" her father asked that night while they were having dinner. She'd told her parents about the job offer that she'd received, careful to leave out any mention of her sister.

"Yes I'm sure" she replied.

"But where will you live?" her mother asked looking in concern at her daughter.

"Don't worry mama, I've already got a place to stay and everything so I'll be fine" she replied.

"You did a degree in business management Yuuki so why the sudden change to designing?" her father asked.

"I've always liked designing papa, it means a great deal to me that I can design something to make other people look beautiful and feel beautiful" she replied thinking of the many times that she herself had not felt beautiful. She didn't dare tell her parents that she would be staying with Reiko and her husband. That would surely kill them.

"Alright then Yuuki, if you're sure" her father sighed and she smiled. "We'd better get you a ticket then".

"It's alright papa, I've already bought myself a ticket" she said looking a little nervous. "I used my savings and bought it".

"You really are serious about this aren't you?" her father asked looking at her carefully. "Did something happen to cause you to want to go to New York?" he asked.

"No papa, I just feel like I need to move on in my life. I want to explore the world and see what's beyond Japan" she said dictating what she'd written on a piece of paper earlier in her room.

"So you've already got a ticket?" her mother asked.

"Yes mama, I'm leaving in seven days" she replied.

"Seven days?" her mother exclaimed. "It's very soon".

"Yes, it's when my new job starts" she replied.

"Anyway regardless of where you go, your mother and I will always be proud of you Yuuki" her father said. She smiled sadly, leaving them behind would be painful but it would be more bearable than the pain caused by Soujiroh if she stayed.

* * *

Akira was in the car on the way to a family meeting when his cell phone rang. "Moshi moshi" he asked.

"Akira-san, are you busy at the moment?" came the voice on the other line.

"Yuuki-chan?" he asked wondering why she was calling him. Even though they were friends, Yuuki and he were not as 'close' as Soujiroh and her. "No I'm not busy at the moment, is anything wrong?"

"No Akira-san I just wanted to talk to you" she replied.

"I'm going for a meeting at the moment but I'm free after six, do you want to meet for dinner?" he asked.

"Sure" she replied "let's meet at Café Momo around six thirty?"

"Alright" he replied "see you then".

When Akira made it to Café Momo later that evening Yuuki was already seated at a table. She got up from her seat and smiled when she saw him and he couldn't help but smile. She had one of those smiles that seemed contagious. She bowed slightly when she saw him.

"Akira-san" she said "how are you?"

"I'm good Yuuki-chan and yourself?" he asked as he sat down opposite her.

"I'm ok at the moment but I'll be better in a couple of days" she replied.

He looked at her feeling slightly puzzled "Yuuki-chan?"

"Akira-san, I wanted to talk to you because I wanted to tell you that I'm going to New York in three days" she said and Akira could only stare at her. He presumed he must look like goldfish.

"Th-three days?" he asked wondering if he'd heard her right.

"Yes, I wanted to thank you for being good to me Akira-san" she said with a smile "although we've never been close or anything, you've always been nice to me" she replied.

"Yuuki-chan, three days is such a short time" he said "are you sure you want to go so soon? What about your parents" he asked.

"I've already spoken to them, they've given me their blessings to go" she replied. "I've already got a job there and I'm staying with my sister and her husband while I work".

"What about Tsukushi?" he asked "have you told her?"

"Yes I told both her and Domyouji-san yesterday when I visited them. They were both quite unhappy that I was moving away but they agreed that maybe it was best that I went for a while. I am going to miss Tsukushi the most but Domyouji-san said that he and Tsukushi would be going to New York for his business so they would see me fairly often" she replied. "Hanazawa Rui-san also stopped by for a while to chat with Domyouji-san so he was informed of me going too. The only person I hadn't informed yet was you" she said with a smile. _And Nishikado-san_ a voice in the back of her head whispered cruelly.

"Well one thing is for sure, no one is going to bother you in New York" Akira told her. "I'll send a picture of you to my father's men there, you'll be alright. They'll see to it that no one harms you" he replied.

"Thank you Akira-san you're too kind" she said.

"Although Yuuki-chan I really want to ask, is your decision to move because of Soujiroh?" he asked.

"Yes and no. I was already given the job offer but what has been happening with me and Nishikado-san encouraged me a bit more to make the decision. I need to move on with my life Akira-san, you and I both know that I've spent too long pining over Nishikado-san" she replied and Akira smiled. "So please don't tell him, I really don't want him to know. Everyone else has promised that they won't mention keeping in touch with me, so I'm begging you to keep this from him".

"I won't tell him Yuuki-chan, I'll let him realize how much he'll miss you on his own" Akira replied.

"Thank you Akira-san" Yuuki replied "I'm really grateful to you".

"This might just be a good change for you Yuuki-chan, here's to a happy future for you" he said raising his wine glass. She beamed at him and they clinked their wine glasses together.

* * *

On the day of her departure, Yuuki looked around her room for the last time. It was time to say goodbye. Her parents were waiting for her at the front door looking solemn.

"Sorry we're not coming to send you off to the airport Yuuki but you know how your mother and I hate goodbyes" her father said and Yuuki glanced at her mother who was sobbing into a handkerchief.

"Mama, I'll be back before you know it" she comforted hugging her mother.

"How are you going to go to the airport?" Yuuki's father asked.

"Akira-san and the others are sending me off" she replied and a few seconds later a long black limo pulled into the driveway, or rather half of the driveway.

Akira got out of the limo and walked up to Yuuki and her parents. "Hello" he said with a slight bow "I'm Yuuki-chan's friend Mimasaka Akira".

"Thank you for sending our Yuuki off, Akira-san" Yuuki's father said.

"Its no problem sir" Akira replied "we should be going or Yuuki-chan might miss her flight" he said and picked up her bag for her.

After a last teary goodbye to her parents, Akira touched her lightly on her arm and led her to the limo. "Don't cry Yuuki-chan" he soothed gently "you'll see your parents soon". He handed her his handkerchief. She accepted it gratefully and wiped her tears with it.

"Where are the others?" she asked.

"They said they'll meet us at the air port" Akira replied.

"You didn't have to send me to the airport Akira-san I could have taken a taxi" she said.

"Nonsense Yuuki-chan, it's my pleasure to send you to the air port. Please I insist" he said.

"Thank you Akira-san, for all your help" she said and he smiled broadly.

"Its nothing Yuuki-chan. I'm glad to be able to help" he replied.

They met Tsukushi, Tsukasa and Rui at the air port. Tsukushi was a little upset and Tsukasa was making fun of her.

"What are you crying for baka? We're going to see Yuuki-chan in a month anyway" he insisted on informing his wife.

"You stupid Domyouji!" she exclaimed, "I'll miss Yuuki, she's my best friend. Its like how you missed Hanazawa Rui when he left for Paris" Tsukushi shot back.

"How can you call me stupid Domyouji? You're married to me now so you're a Domyouji too, so if you call me stupid then you're actually calling yourself stupid. Baka". Yuuki sighed, she was quite used to their little lover's spats but at the same time she was going to miss them.

Hanazawa Rui was standing behind the couple observing them quietly with a small amused smile on his face. He looked up and his eyes met Yuuki's and he smiled at her. Walking over to her he extended his hand "good luck Yuuki-chan, I hope you find happiness wherever you go" he said and with a smile on her face, she shook the hand offered to her.

"Yuuki-chan" Akira said coming forward as they stood before the departure gate. "Keep in touch yes? Call me if you ever need anything or if anyone is bothering you" he said.

"Thank you Akira-san" she said.

"Take care Yuuki-chan" he said and in a surprising move he hugged her gently.

Tsukasa came next "be careful eh Yuuki-chan? My Makino here will have a heart attack if anything happened to you".

"Thank you Domyouji-san" she replied with a slight bow.

"And call us if there is any trouble at all ok?" he asked and she nodded her head smiling slightly.

"Yuuki" Tsukushi said pushing past her husband and rushing forward "take care of yourself ok? And call me often, don't forget! If you can't call me write to me, or e-mail me.

"Hai" Yuuki replied feeling her voice break suddenly as her friend crushed her in an almighty hug. Akira reached out and patted Yuuki's head soothingly.

"I'd better go" Yuuki said as she pulled away from her best friend.

"Take care Yuuki" Tsukushi shouted after her as she walked through the departure gates.

She waved at the four of them until she couldn't see them anymore and her heart ached. Tears welled in her eyes but she blinked them away. No, there would be no crying anymore. She would only be smiling from now on! She was going to America, to a new job, a new place and a new life.

* * *

Soujiroh was seated in his usual VIP booth in Club Intoxica. He was surrounded by many beautiful women who were at his beck and call and yet there was no smile on his face. In fact he had a crease in his forehead from frowning. He stared at his cell phone that he'd placed on his table earlier. It had been two weeks since Yuuki had stormed out of the club after giving him a tongue lashing and he hadn't heard from her since. It was usually she who called him and they would meet and then she wouldn't bother him for a while and then he'd call her after a few days. But this time was different; she hadn't called him at all, not even a miserable text message. Even if he didn't speak to her, she usually sent him at least a dozen text messages a day so why wasn't his phone even buzzing? Akira on the other hand had been busy with his phone the entire night. He even ignored the women that were throwing themselves at him for a stupid phone call. Soujiroh craned his neck to try to listen to Akira's conversation.

"Have you settled in nicely?" he asked. "Good, that's nice to hear and how is the new job coming along? Really? That's great! Thank you, my sisters would definitely appreciate that, anyway I've got to go now but I'll call you the same time tomorrow?" he asked and bidding whoever it was on the other line goodbye, he snapped his phone shut.

Soujiroh watched as Akira made his way to the booth that only contained Tsukasa and Tsukushi. He couldn't hear what Akira was saying to the couple but from their reactions it must have been something good because Tsukasa grinned and Tsukushi beamed happily. Tsukushi's happy smile reminded Soujiroh of Yuuki. The way she would beam happily when he saw her. He glanced back at his phone again. Maybe he should call her. Just to check up and see if she was alright but he shouldn't call her now. It was after all two in the morning and she might be sleeping, he could wait a couple of hours.

Soujiroh had just finished breakfast at home and he was lounging around lazily. He looked at the huge grandfather clock in the hall. It was nine in the morning. _She should be awake by now_ he thought to himself. He dialed the number he knew by heart and waited.

"Greetings the number you have called has been disconnected" came the mechanical voice of the telephone operator.

"What?" he asked "this can't be right". He dialed the number again.

"Greetings the number you have called has been disconnected". He dialed the number ten more times but it still produced the same result.

Yuuki's number had been disconnected. How could that be? Everyone she knew called her by that number. Maybe he should ask Tsukushi. He dialed Tsukasa's number.

"Hello Tsukasa" Soujiroh greeted.

"Hah! Soujiroh" Tsukasa exclaimed.

"Tsukasa I was wondering if I could speak to Tsukushi-chan for a minute. It's about Yuuki-chan. Her phone number seems to be disconnected".

"Oh I see" Tsukasa said clearing his throat. "Just hold on" he said and then Soujiroh heard him yell for his wife. "Oi Makino! Its Soujiroh, he wants to talk to you about Yuuki-chan".

"Err…hello Soujiroh-san" she greeted.

"What happened to Yuuki-chan's phone number? Why can't I reach her?" he asked.

"I think she's getting a new number but maybe you shouldn't call her Soujiroh-san. I think the last person she wants to hear from is you" she replied. "Anyway Soujiroh-san I have to go now Domyouji is calling, bye" she said and hastily hung up.

"That wasn't very helpful at all" he said out aloud. Why wouldn't Yuuki want to speak to him? He hadn't done anything, right?

Half an hour later Soujiroh found himself standing outside the Matsuoka residence. He rang the doorbell. He could just envision her in his mind, answering the door with her usual mega watt smile that would light up her face but that vision faded as her father answered the door.

"Yes?" the older man asked politely "can I help you?"

Soujiroh bowed slightly "hello sir, my name is Nishikado Soujiroh, I'm friends with Yuuki-chan and I was wondering if I could speak to her for a minute".

Yuuki's father looked at him strangely. "Didn't Yuuki tell you?" he asked.

"Tell me?" Soujiroh asked looking confused.

"She has gone to New York" he replied.

"New York? On a holiday?" Soujiroh asked.

"No she received a job offer and she accepted, so that's why she's gone" her father replied.

"Oh, no she didn't tell me that" Soujiroh said back pedaling slowly. "Thank you sir" he said and walked back to his bike that was parked at the end of the driveway.

Yuuki had gone to America? How could that be? She actually left? Why didn't Tsukushi say anything? Was that who Akira had been talking to in the club? Why didn't Yuuki tell him? Did he really hurt her that badly that she'd leave the country because of him? Did everyone actually know that Yuuki had left except himself? _This should actually be a good thing_, a voice in the back of his mine reasoned. _Now you can live your life in peace without her running behind you and bugging you senseless_. Yes Soujiroh reasoned with himself it was a good thing that Yuuki was gone. Now he could actually carry on his like as though he'd never met her. But then why did he feel like something was missing?

**

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**Author's note**

This is my first Soujiroh/Yuuki fic so please excuse the crappiness. I'm just going with the idea that's in my head. I usually write Smallville and harry potter fics so this is a new area for me. I hope you enjoyed it anyway. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible.

**Next chapter preview**

Mama can I get a lollypop? The little girl asked looking at her mother with big expressive eyes.

"Oh alright" Yuki agreed. "But only one ok?"

"Thank you mama you're the best" the little girl replied happily.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing

**Chapter 2**

**Seven years later**

Yuuki exited the arrival hall and a familiar wave swept over her. It had been seven long years since she'd set foot in Japan. Seven long years. She turned around to look behind her at the little girl cuddling a worn brown teddy bear towards her.

"Come on Rei" she called.

"Coming mama" the little girl answered and clutching Benji the teddy bear tighter to her chest she hurried after Yuuki.

"He's here!" Yuuki exclaimed as she caught sight of the familiar face. There standing a little distance away and holding up a very badly done handmade sign was Akira.

"Yuuki-chan! Rei-chan!" Akira exclaimed as he caught sight of them. Rei sprinted towards Akira and threw herself into his arms.

"Akira-san!" she squealed as he picked her up and spun her around.

"My, my Rei-chan! You're getting prettier every time I see you!" he exclaimed and she giggled burying her face in his neck.

"Akira-san its good to see you again" Yuuki said as she walked towards Akira.

"Rei-chan can I put you down for a second so I can talk to your mother?" Akira asked the little girl in his arms.

"Okay" she replied with a wide smile.

"How are you Yuuki-chan?" Akira asked as he set Rei down.

"I'm good Akira-san how are you?" Yuuki asked shyly as she stood in front of him.

Rei rolled her eyes and gave a long suffering sigh as she watched the unnecessarily formal exchange of conversation between Akira and her mother. She sometimes thought that her mother should stop being so formal with Akira and just hug him already. Even though she was a kid she knew that if you were good friends with someone you had to hug them and kiss them right? Without hesitating, she walked around the two of them till she was standing behind her mother and without giving a moments warning, she pushed her mother gently. With a soft yelp Yuuki fell forward and Akira caught her, placing his hands gently on each of her shoulders. He laughed it off and instead made the first move by giving her a friendly hug. When they pulled apart, Yuuki hastily grabbed Rei's hand as Akira commandeered their baggage trolley.

"Shall we go?" Akira asked.

"Yay!" Rei squealed and used her free hand to latch onto Akira's arm. "Let's go!" she exclaimed.

"But first I think that Rei-chan needs a celebratory welcome back ice-cream don't you think Yuuki-chan?" Akira asked and Rei immediately looked hopeful.

"Please mama? Please, please, please?" she begged.

"Oh alright, but just one ok?" Yuuki replied with a smile.

"Thank you mama!" Rei exclaimed and squeezed her mother's hand. Yuuki sighed; she hoped she'd made the right decision by coming back.

* * *

Ever since Rei could remember, she'd always wondered why she never had a father. Everyone had to have a father right? Then why was it that she didn't have one? She remembered asking her mother once when she was about four years old, why she didn't have a father. The result was disastrous. Her mother had burst into tears and it was a good thing that Akira happened to visit at the time. He had made Yuuki a strong cup of tea and had stayed by her side the entire night, only leaving for a short while to help put Rei to bed. The next morning when Rei had woken up, she found her mother asleep on the couch with her head resting against Akira's shoulder. The latter had also apparently fallen asleep after comforting Yuuki the whole night. It was then that Rei decided that she would never ask her mother about her father again. It only brought her mother more heartache and Rei didn't want to cause her anymore pain. Yuuki had already been through enough; trying to juggle work and being a single mother.

It actually didn't really bother Rei that she had no father, after all you can't miss what you've never had in the first place right? Besides the visits from her godparents Tsukasa and Tsukushi, Akira and even Rui had prevented her mother and her from being lonely. Plus being around Tsukasa, Rui and especially Akira had made up for the lack of having a father figure in her life.

Out of all of them Akira had been the constant presence in their lives. He visited them as much as he could. Even when he was on business trips, he would make time for them. Ironically enough, since she'd gone to the states, Yuuki and Akira had grown to be better friends. Their friendship growth had started when Akira happened to visit Yuuki while he was in the states on business and they began corresponding fairly frequently after that. Although it was only a few months after Rei's birth did Yuuki and Akira become close. Rei was about four months old when Akira came to visit Yuuki for the second time. He'd immediately been attached to Rei since the moment that he first laid eyes on her. Having had a huge part in raising his sisters, Akira had lent his expertise to Yuuki who was alienated in the ways of raising a baby girl. Since that faithful night when he'd first seen Rei, he began making visits to the states more often. Sometimes he would spend months at a time there. But even with Akira around, Rei could see that her mother was unhappy. Yuuki never showed it though; her face was always a cheery mask. Rei had racked her little brains trying her hardest to come up with reasons why her mother would be unhappy. So she decided that to find out the answer there was only one person that she could ask.

Rei had been waiting for the perfect timing to ask her burning questions, and it had come. It was a day when Akira, Yuuki and Rei had spent the day at the zoo. They were just about to return home when Yuuki had to suddenly return to the office. Being an assistant to a nationally famous designer has its draw backs. One of them was to be on standby and to go when called. Akira had volunteered to babysit Rei till Yuuki finished work. After all, he was incredibly fond of the little girl. While indulging in the cheesiest slice of pizza that he'd ordered for their dinner, Akira was ambushed with the question.

"Akira-san, why is mama so unhappy?" she had asked and he paused mid bite with the sauce dripping off his pizza slice.

"Eh?" he had asked

"Why is mama so unhappy?" she asked again.

"She's not unhappy" Akira answered and resumed taking a bite of his pizza slice.

"She is unhappy Akira-san" Rei insisted. For a six year old, she was rather insightful and not to mention intelligent.

"What makes you think that?" he asked.

"Sometimes I hear mama crying herself to sleep. She thinks I don't know it but I do, I can hear her and she's sad" Rei said simply.

"Oh" was all Akira said.

"Is she sad because of me?" the little girl asked. "Did I make mama sad?"

"No Rei-chan" Akira immediately said and with a sigh, he then began to explain. "She's sad because of someone she used to love".

Rei got up from her seat and walked towards the mantle piece where a photo graph stood. It was a photograph taken at Tsukasa and Tsukushi's wedding. Out of all the faces in the photograph, a single face was blacked out in permanent ink.

"Is it him?" Rei asked pointing to the blacked out face.

"Yes" Akira replied knowing that it was fruitless to lie to the six year old.

"How did you know him Akira-san?" she asked.

"Well back in school, Tsukasa, Rui, this man and I were part of a group called F4" he explained.

"Wait Akira-san, why were you called the F4" Rei asked looking at him curiously.

"Well F4 was short for The Flower four" he replied as two spots of pink appeared on his cheeks, he realized that to a child, the whole idea of four men being called the flower four must seem quite strange.

"Were you called that because you liked flowers?" she had asked and Akira laughed.

"No, we weren't called that because we liked flowers, we were called that because the people around us thought we were really rich, good looking and smart…err…yes that's why" he replied once again feeling slightly embarrassed, realizing that he must sound incredibly arrogant.

"Oh, so mama liked this man then?" Rei asked pointing to the blackened face on the photograph.

"Yes, your mother loved this man a lot but he didn't love her back and so she became sad. Imagine loving someone so much but they don't love you back?" Akira asked Rei.

"Oh, no wonder mama is sad" Rei replied. She was just about to ask Akira about the name of this man who had hurt her mother when a key turning in the lock announced that Yuuki had already come home.

"Mama!" Rei squealed and threw herself at Yuuki as soon as she came through the door.

"Oh hello baby- whoa, easy there Rei, you might topple me backwards" she remarked.

"I love you mama" Rei replied hugging Yuuki's legs tightly.

"Hey", Akira protested from his place on the couch, "I'm feeling a little left out here, where's my love?"

Rei giggled and she went over to hug Akira "I love you too Akira-san" she replied with a hug.

It was that night that Rei decided that if they went back to Japan, she would find the man that hurt her mama and she was going to let him know how much he had hurt her. She didn't want her mama to be hurt anymore. Her mama was a good person and deserved as much happiness as anyone else.

* * *

The opportunity to go back to Japan had come a short while later for Yuuki. The designer that she was working with, Michael Corte was going to expand his collection to Japan starting at a fashion show in Tokyo and he had insisted, or rather he'd demanded that Yuuki be by his side. She was considered to be Michael's right hand person and she took care of all the important matters regarding the designs. It was especially important that Yuuki come back to Japan because she was a native to the land and knew its culture, people and language well. It didn't take Yuuki long to get everything packed up from her small cottage like house and before she knew it, she and Rei had been on their way to the air port ready to catch the next flight out to Japan.

In all honesty if Michael hadn't demanded that Yuuki go to Japan, she would never have even considered coming back. There was nothing for her here but dormant heartache and memories that were better left forgotten. In particular, Yuuki had been hesitant about coming back because of one person; Nishikado Soujiroh. She felt stupid for admitting it but she was terrified. She was terrified that she would be unfortunate enough to bump into him and she wasn't sure what she would do then.

* * *

Yuuki had just finished unpacking, moving into a new house was tedious in the sense that there was a lot to be done. Just as she's put the last cardboard box away, Rei walked into the room clutching Benji tightly to her chest.

"Mama" she said sitting down beside Yuuki.

"Yes baby?" Yuuki asked as she pulled Rei in for a cuddle.

"I'm hungry what's there to eat?"

"Well I didn't have time to cook because I've been unpacking so how about we go to the shops and see if we can get anything?"

"Can I have instant ramen?" Rei asked looking hopeful.

"Sure, come on let's get your coat and go shall we?" Yuuki asked and Rei got up eagerly and flounced off to grab her coat.

* * *

Soujiroh parked his Harley along the side of the road and made his way down the street to the twenty four hour supermarket. Lately he'd been on a spree spending each night with a different woman and unfortunately for him he'd run out of condoms. He had decided to stop by the supermarket because it was the only one in the vicinity that sold his favorite brand of condoms. From the moment that he stepped through the automated doors of the supermarket, all female eyes were on him. It gave him a slight adrenaline rush to know that he was the center of attention. Cool and confident he made his way towards the furthest end of the supermarket where all the 'manly items' were kept. He had just bypassed the men's hair products section and was heading towards the condoms when he saw it.

He remembered it from years and years ago. He was certain it was the same one. The same eyes and the same fixed smile. Yet, instead of being in the massive attic storeroom of the Mimasaka family house like he'd last seen it, it was now being cuddled by a little girl. Although anyone could have had a teddy bear that looked like that right? And besides how would this little girl ever get her hands on the same teddy bear that Soujiroh was familiar with? It couldn't have been the same one. What were the chances of that happening? She was a cute little girl about five to six years old. Soujiroh was sure that in a good twelve to fifteen years, she would break many men's hearts. Soujiroh wasn't usually bothered with children. He'd always thought that they were dirty little things that cried and pooped all day. Yet there was something different about this little girl, she looked strangely familiar to him and yet he didn't know her at all. Crystal tears were running down her cheeks as she looked around helplessly, all the time clutching the teddy bear tighter to her chest. What was its name again? Soujiroh couldn't remember. Was it Menji? Kenji? Fuji? All he knew was that it ended with a ji. Soujiroh tried to go about his normal business and ignore the little girl crying but his efforts were proving to be fruitless. She was now breaking out into little sobs and each sound felt like a knife stabbing into Soujiroh's flesh. With a heavy sigh he walked over to her.

"Hello" he said kneeling down so that she wouldn't feel so terrified of him. She didn't respond but was now looking at him with a mixture of shock and surprise. He carried on, "are you alright? Why are you crying?"

"M-m-my mama and I came here to get ramen but I wandered off and got lost" she replied. He cringed as she began to sniffle loudly.

"Here" he replied and reached into the inside of his coat to retrieve his handkerchief. He handed it to the little girl who took it hesitantly and blew her nose.

"Thank you" she replied and looked around helplessly.

"Do you want me to help you find your mother?" Soujiroh asked and mentally slapped himself. It was so unlike him to glance twice at a crying child and yet he'd stopped right in front of one and given her his handkerchief to wipe her snot on. And now he was offering to help her find her mother? This was too much, even for him. Yet one look at those sad little dark brown eyes and he was gripped.

"Would you?" she asked looking hopeful.

"Err…yes" he replied. With a mega watt smile, clutching her teddy with her right hand, she latched onto his hand with her left one.

He wasn't exactly sure what to do and she was gripping his hand so tightly that he couldn't have let go even if he wanted to. She led him in the direction that she'd last wandered in.

"Err…little girl, where was your mother last?" he asked.

"She was at the canned food section the last time I saw her and by the way mister, my name isn't little girl; it's Rei" she replied proudly.

"Rei?" he asked.

"Yes, its short for Reinara" she replied as she led him, maneuvering through the aisles. "By the way mister, what's your name?"

"My name?" he asked looking at her in surprise.

"Yes you have a name right? Everyone has a name" she replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, my name is- wait, I have an idea" he said as he spied the PA system on the front counter. "What's your mama's name?" he asked "maybe we can page your mother through the loudspeaker system?"

"My mama's name is"- she broke off as she spied the back of a woman picking apples from a cart. One look at the long wavy locks cascading down her back, Rei had already recognized her mother. "My mama's there!" she exclaimed point at the woman's back.

"You're sure?" Soujiroh asked.

"Yes I'm sure, thank you so much for your help" she said with a short bow and ran in the direction of her mother. Soujiroh watched as she tugged on her mother's coat before heading off to buy what he wanted to in the first place.

Just as he'd stepped out into the cool night air with his precious purchase, he saw Rei being ushered into a taxi by the woman she'd identified as her mother. Although he couldn't see their faces as their backs were facing him, he could hear Rei's loud excited babble.

"So mama are we going to have the spicy ramen for dinner tonight?" she asked.

"Yes" the woman replied.

"Are you sure?" Rei asked again and Soujiroh chuckled.

"Yes baby I'm sure" the woman replied as she got into the cab after Rei.

Soujiroh walked in the direction of his bike when he heard Rei shriek just as her mother had gotten into the cab "MAMA, YOU'RE STEPPING ON BENJI'S PAW!"

Soujiroh stopped in his tracks and turn around in the direction of the cab. He began to advance towards the cab just as the Rei's mother shut the door. He began jogging towards it but the cab had already sped off into the distance. Benji, Benji, Benji. That was the name that he and Akira had christened the bear that he'd given Akira for his fifth birthday. Now he was almost positive that that was the same bear! It was practically insane for Rei's teddy bear to look like the Benji he'd given Akira, and having the same name too? What kind of coincidence is that? As he watched the white cab drive off into the distance, he wondered how on earth Rei had gotten hold of Benji. It had to be the same Benji right?

He ruffled his hair with his hands and sighed. Maybe he was thinking too much into everything. Besides as far as he knew, Akira wasn't acquainted well enough with any six years olds for him to hand over Benji to them. Benji had been Akira's most treasured possession and Soujiroh knew that even when Akira had reached adulthood, he'd still held Benji in high regard. How many times had Soujiroh stepped into Akira's room unannounced to find the friendly brown bear perched atop Akira's pillows? Those times had been too many to count and after a while even Akira had stopped making excuses on why Benji had been found seated on his bed. Soujiroh was certain that Akira wouldn't part with Benji so willingly.

It wasn't until his cell phone rang that he was pulled out of his thoughts. "Moshi moshi?" he answered.

"Don't forget Jiroh" came his mother's sharp voice from the other line. "The Watanabes' and their daughter are coming to our house tomorrow morning".

"Yes mother" he replied dutifully.

"I don't care what you do with your whores so long as you are back by the time they come. Do you understand me?" she asked firmly.

"Yes mother" he replied and closed his phone with a snap. This was the third marriage fixing that he'd had to go through. He was almost twenty nine years old and he was still single. He knew his parents were concerned that he was approaching the big three-zero and yet he hadn't found anyone that he would even consider worth spending a week with, let alone his whole lifetime. He walked towards his bike and put on his helmet, it was time for him to do his nocturnal duties. Tonight he would revel in the company of some fine women and tomorrow he would wear the shackles of his responsibility as the Nishikado heir.

* * *

Soujiroh groaned as he almost tripped over his own feet in his haste to get into his house. His parents would be furious if they caught him sneaking in at this time; not when the Watanabes' were due to arrive in minutes. Feeling too dammed drunk to ride his bike, he'd called Akira at six in the morning and demanded that he come down to the hotel to pick up Soujiroh. After Soujiroh had flatly refused to leave his bike behind instead of riding in Akira's car, the latter had given in and he'd taken Soujiroh home on the Harley. It wasn't supposed to take that long for Soujiroh to reach his house. The hotel wasn't that far from his house and an estimated time between the two places would have been half an hour or maybe forty-five minutes during peak hour. However, due to the number of stops that they'd had to make for Soujiroh to throw up, the entire journey to Soujiroh's house had taken them all of two and a half hours. As soon as they'd reached the Nishikado house, Soujiroh had asked Akira to stay, for moral support. He really wasn't in the mood for another marriage fixing. But Akira had declined much to Soujiroh's surprise; saying that he had another appointment. Before Soujiroh could even thank his friend, Akira had rushed out the door mumbling something about blaming Soujiroh if he was late.

Without his trusty wing-man Akira by his side, Soujiroh no longer felt at ease. It wasn't that he was afraid; it was just that he wasn't ready to give up his current lifestyle. He wasn't ready to commit his whole life to one person just yet. Initially when his parents had first fixed up his marriage to the heir to the Toyogo fortune, he had agreed. But the day before they were to get married, his future bride had written a letter saying that she'd eloped with a man that she'd been in love with for years. Her parents hadn't agreed to the man that she'd loved and finally when she couldn't take being forced to marry someone he didn't love, she eloped.

Instead of feeling shocked or surprised, Soujiroh had felt relieved. He'd taken it as a sign that meant that he wasn't ready for marriage. He had felt like someone who'd been holding their breath underwater for too long and then taking a deep breath when they reached the surface. Ever since then, Soujiroh hadn't been too lucky with all the women that his parents had tried to fix him up with and he'd given up.

In reality Soujiroh was like a wild untamed beast and to him, his parents were the poachers and marriage was a cage. He made his way back to his room stealthily and made a bee line for his bathroom. He knew he must smell like a mixture of alcohol, cologne, cheap perfume and vomit. Not a pleasant combination at all.

Soujiroh praised himself for his impeccable timing as a knock on his door sounded just as he'd finished putting on his kimono. "Yes?" he called out.

"Nishikado san" their head servant Mikha said as he entered the room "your parents have requested your presence in the tea room, it seems the Watanabe family has arrived".

Soujiroh quickly made his way to the tea room, he was already in his mother's bad books and he didn't want to aggravate her further by being tardy. Unlike his father, his mother was the one that he had to be careful not to cross. Like they say, hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn and indeed his mother was not a force to be reckoned with.

As soon as he entered the tea room he saw his parents seated opposite the Watanabes. His younger brother Sho was seated beside his parents and opposite another guy who looked about a year or two older than Soujiroh. On the right of the Watanabes, sat Soujiroh's bride to be. Bride-to-be. Those three simple words itself had the power to churn his stomach resulting in him making a gagging sound and covering it up with a cough. The only one, who seemed to have noticed the internal struggle that Soujiroh was facing, was his mother and she glared openly at him, letting him know that she was greatly displeased with him.

"Ah Ken-san" Soujiroh's father began "this is my eldest son, Soujiroh". Soujiroh stood dumbly staring at the group before him.

"Jiroh" his mother hissed sharply "come and say hello".

He bowed and made his way to sit down opposite the girl that his parents had intended for him to marry. He raised his eyes to look into hers. She had her eyes downcast like any gushing bride to be and he already felt himself being shoved into a cage. She had long, dark hair and an aristocratic nose. Her lips were full and pink and they seemed to be set in a permanent pout. He supposed that she was pretty enough, in that artificial kind of way and he briefly wondered if she'd had any plastic surgery done. There was no way that her boobs were naturally that big right? He must have been staring at her quite blatantly because his mother nudged him and cleared her throat. His head immediately snapped up, just in time to see Ken Watanabe gesturing to the young man beside him.

"And this is my eldest and only son, Minami. He was studying in London and has just returned to Japan". Soujiroh nodded politely and gave the other man a small smile. All he wanted to do was to go back to his room and sleep in his bed. The massive headache that he'd acquired from consuming vast amounts of alcohol the night before was ever present.

"I think that Jiroh and Minako-chan would make a remarkable pair don't you think Ken-san?" Soujiroh's father asked his future in law.

"Oh most definitely" Ken Watanabe had agreed. "So what date shall we set the engagement ceremony for?" Ken asked Soujiroh's father. Soujiroh had tuned out by that time and he eagerly waited for his parents to finish discussing with the Watanabes.

"Next week on Saturday?" his father had asked and Ken Watanabe and his wife had immediately agreed.

Soujiroh groaned mentally. It had been finalized. There was no escaping his fate now, he was bound to marry the girl sitting in front of him.

* * *

Author's note: Hello all, sorry if this chapter seems kind of rushed. It's my birthday so I have been really busy but I hope you liked this chapter anyway…if you'd like something to happen in this story, don't hesitate to tell me and I would gladly put it in. I'm really open to suggestions and constructive criticism so I'm glad for basically anything you have to say to me. Thanks everyone for your support so far!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything! Nothing belongs to me**

**Chapter 3**

Akira held Rei's hand as they both walked down the street licking their ice creams. Akira looked at Rei and a smile graced his features as he watched her innocently polish away her frozen treat.

"Where do you want to go next Rei-chan?" he asked and she looked thoughtful.

"Hmmm I don't care where we go Akira-san, so long as I get to go there with you" she replied and resumed her ice cream licking.

"Ok then, how about we go to the new amusement park?" he asked and she positively beamed at him.

"Ok" she replied and grabbing his hand, she skipped along beside him. Akira paused when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Usually when he got to spend the day with Rei, he always put his phone on silent. It was a habit that he'd picked up from when Rei was a baby. He'd put his phone on vibration mode so that he wouldn't wake her when she was sleeping. Now even though she wasn't a baby anymore, he couldn't shake the habit. He still thought of her as a baby. His baby.

"Moshi, moshi?" he answered as he flipped his phone open.

"Moshi, moshi Akira-san?" came the familiar voice.

"Hai Emu, what's up?" he asked the elder of his twin sisters.

"Well let me put you on speaker" Emu replied and Akira could hear her shouting for her sister in the background. "Memu! An-chan is on the phone!" she yelled.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Memu Mimasaka squealed and Akira heard her getting closer to the device.

"Ok we're both here now" Emu said.

"Well what's up?" Akira asked again trying to keep his patience. His sisters always did this to him. Although they were almost seventeen years old, they still behaved like they were five.

"Well…" Emu began.

"It would be nice" Memu continued.

"If you could"-That was Emu.

"Bring Rei-chan" That was Memu.

"Over to the house" That was Emu again.

"For a while" That was Memu again.

"So that we" Emu continued.

"Can play with her" Memu finished. Almost seventeen and they were still finishing each other's sentences. Akira had a brief vision of his two sisters ending up like Patti and Selma, Marge's twin spinster sisters from The Simpsons. He shuddered as he pushed the thought out of his mind.

Akira blinked twice; he had forgotten that his sisters were on the other line for a second. "Err…really?" he asked.

"Yes, yes" they replied in unison.

"The last time we saw Rei-chan" Emu said.

"Was during our visit to New York" Memu continued.

"And that was three years ago" Emu exclaimed.

"Ok, I'll bring her" Akira replied with a sigh.

"Thank you Akira-san!" they replied in unison. He could hear them bustling around excitedly and with another sigh, he shut his phone.

He felt selfish but today was meant to be a whole day where he could spend time with Rei alone and now he'd have to share her time with his sisters. He supposed he wasn't being fair. After all, his sisters had loved Rei like a little sister and they doted on the little girl. Despite the physical distance between New York and Japan, his sisters would pool their pocket money together and occasionally send Rei a gift of some sort. Granted that the Mimasaka twins received a small fortune each week for pocket money, at the end of the day it was the thought that counted.

Whenever Emu and Memu Mimasaka sent presents, you could bet your life savings that it would be pink, girly and pretty. In total, Rei had received four frilly, party dresses, two complete sets of Barbie dolls (including Barbie's car, house, family and Ken), a complete designer make up set (despite the fact that Rei had been four years old at the time), sixteen pairs of shoes, a toy castle large enough for a grown man to play in (and Akira had indeed played in the castle with Rei a couple of times) and a puppy (which had to be sent back because there was no way that Rei and Yuuki could have kept the puppy). All these gifts had been sent to Rei in the course of three years. Like Akira, Emu and Memu had been so taken with the little girl since they saw here three years ago, that they had brought it upon themselves to pamper her with the best.

"Rei-chan, instead of going to the amusement park would you like to go and see Emu and Memu? I don't know if you remember them but they're my sisters. They sent you the puppy. How about postponing the amusement park visit till next week? Then maybe we can also go ice skating, how about that?" he asked and she all but glowed.

"Yes! Akira-san yes! Yes!" she squealed as she did a little happy dance. Akira watched her, laughing out aloud as she wiggled her bottom to imaginary music.

"Alright then, come on you!" he called and she giggled as he took her hand.

* * *

Akira had barely opened the double doors to the Mimasaka mansion when both he and Rei almost got a shock of their lives. There, standing in the doorway was Emu and Memu Mimasaka; each had a giant balloon attached to the back of their matching dresses.

"Rei-chan!" the twins exclaimed as they caught sight of the little girl.

"Hello Emu-san, hello Memu-san" she replied with a little bow and they 'awwwed'.

"She's more adorable than I remember" Emu exclaimed.

"Oh isn't she precious" Memu exclaimed.

But the loudest exclamation of all came from behind the twins. "REI-CHAN!"

Akira groaned loudly and the twins yelped as they were shoved aside by the one woman who was possibly more childish than them.

"REI-CHAN!" Aimee Mimasaka exclaimed clapping her hands together in a child-like fashion and Akira was sure that if he'd let her, she would have jumped around in delight.

"Mother" he said glumly "please control yourself".

"But Akira-kun" she whined "you hardly ever bring anyone back home besides Tsukasa-kun, Soujiroh-kun and Hanazawa-kun! Can't I get excited over you bringing back Rei-chan?"

"Mother…" he began tiredly.

"It's the first time we're seeing her in three years, I think this calls for a celebration don't you think?" Mimasaka Aimee exclaimed in delight.

"Oh yes!" Emu and Memu responded in unison.

Akira slapped his face with his hand and let out a loud groan. "Mother…"

"It's ok Akira-san" Rei replied with a smile as she put her tiny hand on his arm. "I don't mind".

"Come on Rei-chan, let's go and have a tea party" Aimee Mimasaka exclaimed as began to lead the younger girl away.

"Are you sure?" Akira asked as Rei was being pulled away.

"I'll be fine Akira-san" she replied bravely. Akira had to commend her; it took a lot of courage for someone to be led into the unknown realms of the Mimasaka females. It was as though they were leading Rei into the lion's den. Akira's father had always said that his wife and daughters were like lionesses, pink, frilly, squealing lionesses.

"Oh Rei-chan we're going to have so much fun!" Aimee squealed and her daughters clapped enthusiastically behind her.

"Is it really wise to let them take her like that?" Akira asked himself.

* * *

"Yuuuuuuuuukiiiiiiiii" Michael Corte called in that effeminate, sing song voice of his.

"Yes Corte-san?" she asked and he let out a high pitched laughter that made her cringe.

"Oh Yuuki darling, don't need to be so formal. Even in the States I told you not to call me Mr. Corte. Just Michael would do darling, we are after all good friends" he said batting his eye lashes that would have looked better on a woman.

"Yes Michael?" Yuuki corrected.

"I need you to take my tonight's appointment. I need you to make sure that my eight o'clock client wears her dress right. She's the daughter of a very important person and I need you to handle it" he said.

Yuuki blinked at Michael, working that night would be a problem. She had Rei to look after. At such short notice, she couldn't possibly get a babysitter and Akira had a function to attend to that night.

"Err…Michael I can't work tonight, I've got to take care of Rei" she replied.

"Rei?" Michael remarked "why don't you ask that delicious looking young man of yours to watch her for the night?" he asked.

"You mean Akira-san?" Yuuki asked and Michael nodded vigorously.

"Yes, yes, that's the one. Oh I've never seen such a yummy ass on a man in my entire life and his body, oh it makes me turned on just thinking about it" he remarked dreamily.

"Err…oh-kay" Yuuki replied feeling incredibly grossed out. "Akira-san has a function to attend to tonight, so I couldn't ask him even if I wanted to" she replied.

"I see…hmmm" Michael replied and then looked thoughtful for a while.

"Michael?" Yuuki asked.

"Well I don't care" Michael said snapping his fingers as he straightened up. "Tonight's the first time in a long, long time that I've got a date and I'm not going to pass up my boy toy for anyone. So I suggest you start finding a babysitter for Rei".

"But Michael"-

"No buts Yuuki darling, I'm counting on you. Plus, if you do this little favor for me, I'll let you design a dress for my debuting fashion show coming up" he said looking at her slyly.

"Michael that's not fair" she protested. He knew that she had always wanted to showcase her talent at a fashion show but the timing was never right. He held up his hand to stop her.

"Ah darling, don't be like that. Life's not fair so I suggest that you start finding a babysitter pronto!" he said in that same sing song voice that Yuuki was beginning to hate.

"But who do I ask?" she asked as Michael walked towards the door, pretending no to have heard her.

"Tata darling!" he called as he shut the door behind him, leaving Yuuki alone in the room.

"I know, maybe Tsukushi can help" she said to herself and began dialing Tsukushi's number.

"Moshi, moshi, Tsukushi speaking" came the familiar voice of her best friend.

"Tsukushi?" Yuuki asked.

"Oh! Yuuki! Hello Yuuki, how's things?"

"Tsukushi I have a favor to ask of you" she began.

"Sure Yuuki, what is it?"

"I need a babysitter for Rei tonight, and I know its short notice but I would be ever so grateful!" Yuuki said praying to the heavens that Tsukushi would babysit Rei.

"Oh, tonight?" Tsukushi asked "well tonight Domyouji and I are supposed to be going for a function but our Tsukashi will be staying at home. We've got a babysitter for him. I don't want him to come with us for the function because he will probably be bored with all the stupid snooty people that will be there" she replied.

If Yuuki wasn't so desperate to find a babysitter, she would have laughed at Tsukushi. She was still the same after all these years and it never ceased to amaze Yuuki how Tsukushi still hadn't gotten used to being wealthy and being around wealthy people.

"Oh" Yuuki replied, well what other option did she have? She was just thinking about taking Rei to work with her when Tsukushi spoke up.

"I know Yuuki, how about you bring Rei over here and the babysitter can babysit them both together and tomorrow you can pick Rei up. She and my Kashi are the same age anyway" Tsukushi said.

"Are you sure Tsukashi-san and my Rei will get along together?" Yuuki asked nervously.

"Yes I'm sure, my Kashi isn't like his father; thank god for that" Tsukushi replied.

"Ok well Rei is with Akira-san at the moment, she's spending the day with him at his house. So maybe I will get her from Akira-san's house and then drop her off at your house is that ok?" she asked.

"Sure, that's fine. I'm actually quite excited to have Rei-chan play with Kashi" Tsukushi said truthfully. "It will give them an opportunity to get introduced to one another". Yuuki could practically hear the excitement in her friend's voice.

"Alright then Tsukushi, I'd better be going. Thank you so much" she replied and her friend made a clicking noise with her tongue.

"Yuuki, what are friends for eh? To help each other and to be there for one another when the need arises" she remarked.

"Arigato gozaimasu" Yuuki replied with a smile. Sometimes she couldn't believe that she'd been so blessed. Her friends were good people and she thanked god everyday for letting her meet them.

* * *

Akira was seated on the floor; his longish collar length hair was up in two ponytails, his face was powdered white, his cheeks were rouged pink, his lips were painted red and his manhood lay in tatters at his feet. Anyone could tell from Akira's disgruntled expression that he was not a happy man indeed. The reason why he had come to be in this position was because of the little girl sitting next to him, looking up at him sympathetically. He had wanted to make sure that Rei wouldn't be traumatized by his sisters and he'd jumped 'into the fire' without thinking of the consequences. He should have known that the three Mimasaka women of his family would try to pull something of this sort on him. The minute he'd entered Emu and Memu's room, they'd attacked with their womanly tools. They were the most immature people on the planet, possibly in the entire universe as well. How did he not foreshadow his mother and sisters ambushing him with make up?

"Akira-kun" his mother cooed as she looked at him, like a beast stalking its prey.

"What?" he asked with a disgruntled expression.

"I want you to"- she was cut off by a buzzing from his pocket.

"Hold on that's my phone" he said and ignoring his mother's dismayed expression, he answered his phone.

"Moshi, moshi? Oh Yuuki-chan" he said gratefully. "Ok, sure. I'll see you soon" he said as Aimee Mimasaka looked at him curiously.

"Alright!" he exclaimed loudly and made Aimee jump slightly. "Get this make up off me now!"

"Why?" Aimee whined "it looks nice on you Akira-kun".

"Mother, just please get it off me now, Yuuki-chan is going to be here in five minutes and I don't want her to see me like this".

"Oh I see" his mother said cheekily. "You want to look good in front of Yuuki-chan eh? Perhaps you like her?" she asked and her simply glared at her.

"Yuuki-chan and I are just friends and besides mother, any _sane_ person wouldn't want to be seen looking like _this_" he said gesturing to his make up.

"I think you look good Akira-kun and if you and Yuuki-chan are just friends then you shouldn't have any problems appearing in front of her like that. After all aren't friends usually comfortable enough around each other to show their true selves, no matter how or what they look like?" Aimee Mimasaka put in wisely and Akira gawked at her. The woman had a point there. It was times like this that he realized that his mother wasn't all that insane as he's thought her to be.

"Rei-chan" Akira called "your mama is going to be here soon, we'd better get you cleaned up".

Rei got up from her place and Akira looked at her face feeling horrified. "EMU! MEMU! WHAT DID YOU DO TO REI-CHAN?" he bellowed.

"What's wrong Akira-kun?" Emu asked sweetly.

"I think she looks pretty" Memu replied in the same tone as her sister.

"We did her make up just like us" Emu replied proudly and Akira blinked dumbly at her.

"SHE LOOKS LIKE A CHILD GEISHA!" He exclaimed. Actually come to think of it, Rei's face was painted in the exact same way as his sisters. If he wasn't so used to seeing his sisters like that, he might have thought that they looked like Geishas too.

"No she doesn't, she looks like a doll" Emu cooed.

"A beautiful porcelain doll" Memu replied.

"Like that beautiful porcelain doll from that shop called Doll Maker" Emu replied dreamily.

"Yes" Memu replied with a faraway look in her eyes. "Just like that beautiful porcelain doll from that shop called Doll Maker that we want for our birthday".

"Ok, ok I get it! I get it!" Akira groaned "you want dolls for your birthday". His sisters squealed in delight.

"Come on Rei-chan" he said taking the little girl's hand. "Let's go wash your face before your mama gets here".

Akira had just finished getting off all the foundation from Rei's face when the doorbell rang, echoing throughout the mansion. "That must be my mama Akira-san" Rei said.

"Yes and thankfully, you're back to normal" Akira said as he hunched towards her dabbing her face with a towel.

"Hmmm" she agreed "but Akira-san, you aren't".

"Eh?" he asked looking at her in confusion.

She gently turned his head to the side, so that he was facing the mirror. Looking at him pointedly she giggled "that's what I mean, you look silly".

"EH??" he all but yelled and tried frantically to wipe off the stark white foundation from his face.

"Rei? Akira-san?" A soft voice asked as the bathroom door opened.

"Yuuki-chan?" Akira asked looking absolutely mortified.

"Hello Akira-san" she said staring at him.

"How did you"-

"I let Yuuki-chan in" Aimee Mimasaka said as she stepped into Akira's huge bathroom.

"I should have known" Akira mumbled to himself.

"Oh Akira-san, you have a little something on your face" Yuuki said and taking her handkerchief from inside her pocket, she ran it under the tap and began to wipe away the remnants of make up from his face. Then she gently removed the two hair ties from his head.

Aimee Mimasaka smiled from the doorway. "See Akira-kun" she said sweetly "I knew that Yuuki-chan wouldn't mind". Akira all but hissed at her.

"There" Yuuki said "done".

"Thank you Yuuki-chan" Akira replied.

"Ok Rei, say thank you to Akira-san. We have to get going. You're going to be staying with Domyouji Tsukashi tonight because mama has got work".

"Is he the boy with the curly hair that I met last year when Tsusaka-san and Tsukushi-san came to New York?" she asked.

"Yes" her mother answered.

"But mama, I HATE him" she stressed and Yuuki looked at her. She'd never heard Rei exclaimed her dislike for anyone before. She was usually so pleasant.

"Why?" Yuuki asked.

"Because he's loud and he has no manners!" she said earnestly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Beside them, Akira let out a short bark of laughter.

"Anyway you have no choice baby, no one else can babysit you" Yuuki replied.

"What about Akira-san?" Rei asked looking hopefully at him.

"Akira-san has a function to attend to tonight" Yuuki replied.

"I would gladly not go to the function and spend time with you but tonight is my good friend's engagement and I have to go" Akira replied.

"Oh" Rei replied.

"But next week we'll go ice skating and we'll go to that amusement park ok?" he asked and she grinned broadly at him.

"Ok" she exclaimed happily.

"Now say thank you to Akira-san" Yuuki said.

"Thank you Akira-san I had fun today" she replied and hugged him tightly around the middle.

"What about Emu-chan and Memu-chan and Aimee-san?" Yuuki prompted.

"Thank you Emu-san, thank you Memu-san" she said and ran over to the twins and hugged them both together.

"Awww" Emu and Memu cooed together.

"Thank you Aimee-san I had a wonderful time today" she said as she hugged the older woman.

"Don't mention it Rei-chan" Aimee said "come back whenever you want ok?" she asked and Rei smiled toothily.

"Thank you Akira-san" Yuuki said with a slight bow "sorry to have troubled you".

"No, it was my pleasure" he replied.

"Emu-chan, Memu-chan, happy birthday for next week, your birthday presents should arrive in a day or two. I hope you like it" Yuuki said with a small smile as she looked at the Mimasaka twins.

"Oh Yuuki-chan, don't be silly" Emu exclaimed.

"We like all your presents" Memu supplied.

"Especially the Michael Corte summer dresses, you sent us last year" Emu said.

"Definitely the Michael Corte summer dresses" her twin replied.

Yuuki bowed again and she walked over to the car she'd purchased a week ago holding Rei's hand.

* * *

Rei walked into the Domyouji playroom after her mother had dropped her off. She wasn't too happy about spending the night there. It was the first night that she'd be staying with a person other than her mother or Akira and of all people she had to be with, it had to be Tsukashi Domyouji. The babysitter was seated on the couch watching television on the large screen TV. Domyouji Tsukashi was playing with his cars and only looked up when she stood a few meters away from him.

"Who are you?" he asked in that haughty tone that she'd heard her godfather Tsukasa use.

"I'm Rei" she shot back.

"I don't know you" he hesitated for a fraction of a second before replying, raising his nose in the air.

"Yes you do, your mother and father are my god parents" she replied frowning slightly. "You came to my house in New York".

"No, I don't remember" he replied haughtily.

"You went on the monkey bars and you fell off and you made a big scene because you thought you'd broken your arm" she replied, her tolerance level was being sorely tested.

"No, I still don't remember" he replied dismissively and she gave up.

"Fine" she replied and walked over to a spot to play by herself.

Tsukashi watched her as she walked over to play by herself. The truth was that he did remember her but his ego and pride wouldn't warrant him to 'remember' someone like her. Hadn't his grandmother always said never to mix around with people 'lower' than him? Rei was lower than him right? He may have been a child but he knew that much. He wouldn't lower himself by associating with her. He was a Domyouji after all!

* * *

Nishikado Soujiroh stared at his reflection in the mirror. He looked dashing as always, if he might say so himself. He always felt debonair in a tux; there was something so alluring about the tuxedo that Soujiroh felt himself being transformed just by wearing it. It was as though he was James Bond. Actually he would have preferred wearing something a bit more traditional but Minako had insisted on them wearing western outfits and both her parents and his parents had agreed. Usually whenever he wore a tux, he would imagine himself as James Bond. At the school socials or grand events, he liked to pretend for that one night that while he was wearing a tux, he was not himself. But tonight was different, tonight he was just Nishikado Soujiroh; the man who was about to be engaged to Minako Watanabe.

He supposed that beyond the realm of his changing room, there were hundreds of people gathered to witness the merger between the two. Not the merger between Minako and himself but rather the merger of the Watanabes' with the Nishikados'. Minako's change room was just a few doors away from his. Although change room might be understating what the room actually was. Since he'd chosen to have the engagement in a hotel owned by Tsukasa Domyouji; the room was nothing short of a presidential suite. Needless to say that since Minako was his bride to be, her treatment mirrored his. Over the past week, he'd been coming to terms with the fact that he would be getting married soon. His initial displeasure had progressed into a numb emotionless feeling. His take on his upcoming betrothal was summed up in three words. So-be-it.

Soujiroh had never felt nervous in his entire life, never. Yet today for some reason, he felt his nerves leaving his body and vanishing into thin air. Although he wondered why he was feeling nervous, it was probably due to the fact that the inevitable was occurring. He'd always had things going his way since the day he was born and yet today at almost twenty nine years of age, the one thing that was supposed to go his way wasn't.

"Hello Soujiroh, need some moral support?" asked a voice and Soujiroh turned his head to look at the door where Akira's head was peeking out.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever" he replied although he was mighty grateful for Akira's presence at that moment. He was in desperate need of it but he would not admit it. He was wearing the tux after all and a man in a tux was supposed to be the epitome of masculinity. He couldn't disgrace the tux by admitting to Akira that he needed such a weak thing like moral support.

"How are you holding up?" Akira asked.

"Meh" he replied with yet another shrug of his shoulders.

"Are you really that nervous?" Akira asked with a laugh.

"No" Soujiroh replied defensively "I'm not nervous at all".

"Ummm hmmm" Akira replied as he sat down on the great armoire a few feet from Soujiroh.

"I'm NOT nervous" Soujiroh stressed but Akira wasn't buying any of it.

"It's almost time for you to go out" Akira replied as he walked to stand behind Soujiroh.

"Now?" Soujiroh asked and for that moment he reminded Akira of a lost little boy.

"You'll be fine Soujiroh" Akira comforted as he patted his friend's back. Then the two of them walked out into the hall where Soujiroh's fate was already decided.

* * *

"Yuuki-chan I think it needs to be a little tighter around the bust".

"Yes Minako-san" Yuuki replied with a bow.

"Yes that's better" Minako replied as Yuuki made the necessary changes.

"Would you like me to pin it in a little here at the waist? Just to emphasize your shape?" she asked and Minako smiled.

"That would be great Yuuki-chan" she replied.

"So I'll just get this done and you should be fine Minako-san" Yuuki replied.

"How come Michael couldn't make it today?" Minako asked.

"He had an important meeting today that he was unable to cancel" Yuuki replied and almost laughed out aloud, imagining what Michael must really be doing.

"Well I'm glad he sent you Yuuki-chan, you made me look more fabulous than before" Minako remarked as she twirled around in front of the mirror admiring herself in the crimson gown.

"No problem" Yuuki replied.

"Do you design and make your own dresses as well Yuuki-chan?" Minako asked as Yuuki took another look at Minako's dress.

"Yes I do, but I'm just starting out" Yuuki replied honestly.

"Well I'd like to see more of your work Yuuki-chan. Is that alright?" Minako asked.

"Sure Minako-san I'll be glad to show you my designs" she replied with a smile. "Here's my card" she said and handed Minako her card.

"I'd better make my way outside" Minako said "it's almost time".

Yuuki smiled and with a small bow she began to put the things back in her bag. "I'll be taking my leave as soon as I finish putting away my things" she said to Minako.

"No problem Yuuki-chan, thank you for all your help" she said pleasantly.

* * *

It had been a good ten minutes since Soujiroh had placed the huge rock of a diamond ring on Minako's finger and already he was beginning to feel the weight of his responsibilities on his back. He was now officially meant to be a one woman man. He turned behind him and saw that in a corner his friends were talking to his fiancée and he sighed. His eyes scanned the crowd and he looked at the people there. He didn't know most of them. They were all probably business associates of his father or Ken Watanabe. He made his way to the exit of the hall and shoved his hands into his pockets. He needed some fresh air; the atmosphere inside the hall had been suffocating.

He made his way outside when he saw caught sight of a woman walking in front of him. Normally he wouldn't have looked twice at her but he noticed that she was carrying a rather large bag and seemed to be struggling with it. Soujiroh watched as she accidentally bumped into a man who seemed to be in a rush, dropping her bag on the floor with a loud 'thump'.

"Gomenasai" she apologized and picked up her bag from the floor not noticing that she had dropped her cell phone in the process. The man she had bumped into picked up the phone and jogged after her. Soujiroh watched as the man called her to get her attention. By now she was just outside the hotel waiting for a cab.

"Miss" the man had called. "You dropped your phone".

"Thank you" she replied as the man handed her the phone. Soujiroh stopped in his tracks as she turned her head to thank the man. No, it couldn't be. He hadn't seen her in seven years and there she was standing right in front of him. But she was supposed to be in America somewhere right? Then what was she doing here? No, he was delusional, there was no way that Yuuki could be standing merely a few feet away from him, not when he'd been searching for her for seven years. Seven years!

"Yuuki-chan" he whispered to himself as if the very mention of her name would shatter the image before him. He began walking in her direction.

He quickened his pace when he saw a cab pull up in front of her. He began to run faster when he saw her open the door of the cab but by then it was too late. By the time he'd burst through the automatic doors of the hotel, her cab had already disappeared into the night.

He suddenly had an urge to go after her, and was contemplating getting into the next cab to follow her when a voice broke through his thoughts.

"Soujiroh-kun?"

Soujiroh turned around and stared into the face of the man who'd bumped into Yuuki earlier.

"Err…" Soujiroh said.

"I'm Minako's elder brother, Minami?" the man prompted and realization clicked in his head.

"Ah Minami-kun, sorry I didn't recognize you earlier I was preoccupied" Soujiroh apologized.

"It's no problem" Minami replied "sorry I'm late, I just finished a meeting with the board of directors of one of our hotels".

"Oh it's ok" Soujiroh replied, his mind was still processing the fact that Yuuki had been right in front of him and yet he'd missed her.

"By the way Soujiroh-kun what are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be upstairs?" Minami asked and Soujiroh looked at him quite blankly.

"Upstairs?" he asked

"Yes, with everyone else? In the reception hall?"

"Oh yes, I just needed some fresh air and I wanted to stretch my legs" he offered feebly.

"I see, shall we make our way upstairs now? People might be looking for you" Minami said and without waiting for a reply, he began steering Soujiroh in the direction of the hall.

* * *

"I'm telling you, I saw her" Soujiroh insisted to Rui.

"Saw who?" Akira interjected, having just approached the pair.

"I saw Yuuki-chan" Soujiroh said exasperatedly.

Akira paused and he stared at Soujiroh very hard. If Soujiroh hadn't been so focused on trying to convince them that he had seen Yuuki, he might have noticed that Akira had turned pale.

"You're probably mistaken" Akira replied.

"I didn't make a mistake, I really saw her" Soujiroh insisted.

"Maybe you thought you saw her but you didn't?" Rui offered casually.

"What is wrong with the two of you??" Soujiroh exclaimed "I'm telling you that I really did see her".

"Saw who?" Tsukasa asked as he too joined in the conversation, with Tsukushi by his side.

"I'm trying to tell them that I saw Yuuki-chan" Soujiroh told him "and Akira and Rui don't believe me".

"That's impossible" Tsukasa burst out suddenly "Soujiroh you must definitely be mistaken".

"Domyouji, that's the smartest thing you've said all night" Tsukushi remarked from beside her husband.

"Hah! My little weed has finally acknowledged that I am smart" Tsukasa exclaimed proudly.

"I believe she was actually meaning it literally" Rui remarked. "It would be impossible for Yuuki-chan to be here Soujiroh, the last we heard she was overseas".

"Yes Hanazawa Rui is right, there's no way that Yuuki would be here of all places" Tsukushi replied with a laugh as she ignored her husbands rambling. "She's in New York. You must have mistaken someone else for her". Soujiroh wasn't aware of the secret, nervous looks exchanged between his friends.

Soujiroh sighed "maybe you're right" he replied. After all he had mistaken other women for Yuuki a good few times. Perhaps it was because he was desperate, desperate to see her. He hadn't seen or heard from her in a long time. Maybe his mind was doing things to him or maybe it was feeding off his immense need to see her. All he wanted was to see her once, just once. He wanted to know that she was doing ok, that she was fine. He did care about her as a friend after all and he was a friend that was concerned about her. He knew that Taukushi received the occasional e-mail from her but she never disclosed how Yuuki was doing or what she was doing apart from the fact that she was in New York; despite the number of times that he'd pestered her. He seriously hoped he wasn't mistaken though; he'd like to think that he had really seen Yuuki. In all honesty, he hadn't actually seen her face up close but it was his gut feeling that alerted him that she was Yuuki. Ok, so maybe he might have made a mistake, it was easy to make that kind of mistake right? From a distance away anyone could have looked like her. If only he'd run faster, if only he hadn't hesitated, if only he knew what he'd done to make her leave in the first place.

"Soujiroh?" A voice asked from beside him and he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Is everything alright?"

"Akira?" he asked his throat suddenly dry.

"Hmmm?" Akira asked.

"We're friends right?"

"Sure we are" Akira replied "what are you going on about?"

"Sorry, it's just that I- you don't have any secrets from me right?" he asked.

"Soujiroh? What are you"-?

"You tell me everything right?" Soujiroh asked.

"Sure" Akira replied.

Of course Soujiroh knew that that was impossible. No one told anyone everything. He knew Akira had his own little secrets just as Soujiroh had his own. Those were the kind of secrets that you had to keep to yourself. It was only natural. Akira wouldn't lie to him, they were buddies after all. Feeling a little more comforted he smiled at Akira.

"Thank you Akira" he said suddenly.

"What for?" Akira asked looking taken aback at how vulnerable Soujiroh had sounded.

He shrugged his shoulders "I just wanted to say thank you. You're a good friend Akira and I'm thankful that you're around" he replied and putting his hands in his pockets he walked towards the bar situated in the back of the hall.

* * *

Akira watched as Soujiroh walked away feeling the dread slowly settling in his stomach. He felt ashamed; Soujiroh was vulnerable at this point, in fact this was the pinnacle of his insecurity and Akira could tell. Anyone who was close to Soujiroh could see that this upcoming marriage was slowly eating at him. In the beginning during his first engagement, Akira had marveled at how gung-ho Soujiroh had been. It was only after everything had fallen through that Akira realized that Soujiroh had actually been devastated about the whole thing. He hadn't loved Yuri Toyogo, heiress to the Toyogo fortune; it was just that his ego and self esteem had taken a mighty blow. Soujiroh had always thought himself invincible; he was the mighty Nishikado Soujiroh after all. He had never been dumped before; it was usually he who had done the dumping. Besides, all the preparations had already been done for the wedding and at the very last minute Yuri had left him. He never thought for a second that a woman might leave him. He'd always assumed that women loved him for the simple fact that he was who he was. After a great inner debate he'd mustered up the courage to test the marriage waters for the first time only to end up drowning. Yuri abandoning him at the altar, so to speak, had left him with a feeling that he'd never experienced before. He had felt inadequate and insecure. She had chosen love over him. Soujiroh was left wondering if he would ever feel strongly about a person, the same way that Yuri had felt for that man that she'd left him for. His love for Sara had been such a long time ago that he had forgotten that feeling. Love was as alien to him as he was to it. A part of him wanted to know what it felt like to love someone and be loved in return; to feel that utterly blissful feeling that came along with love. Yet at the same time he was scared of it.

Akira had been there to witness it all. In fact it was Akira who had picked up the pieces of Soujiroh's shattered self and swept them under the rug. He was there when Soujiroh had been on a rampage. Drinking heavily each night and waking up the next morning with no memory of the previous night's events. Every night was the same story, he would witness Soujiroh drown his sorrows with expensive alcohol unable to stop the ravenous creature within his friend.

There was one particular night almost seven years ago, that Akira had remembered when Soujiroh had gone overboard with his drinking. He had been on his second bottle of whiskey when Soujiroh met Seiko Yakama and under the influence of alcohol, he'd been thoroughly infatuated with her. Akira had been surprised when he'd first seen Seiko. She was not a national beauty by his standards nor did she seem Soujiroh's type but rather she looked uncannily like Yuuki. She had been a nurse at Tomo Private Hospital and for one night, she had Soujiroh completely under her spell. Of course the next morning when he'd woken up with no memory of the previous night's events, Soujiroh had sworn that he'd never repeat his actions. But that promise was as hollow as Soujiroh felt. All this had happened just a couple of months after Yuuki had left for the states and Akira thought that her departure had somehow caused a domino effect in Soujiroh.

Speaking of Yuuki, Akira had felt like he'd betrayed Soujiroh for keeping her whereabouts and his relationship with her a secret. But a promise was a promise and he had given his word to Yuuki that he wouldn't mention anything to Soujiroh. The conversation that had taken place minutes ago at the wedding hall between him and Soujiroh, had just added fuel to the fire that was Akira's guilt. Yuuki and Rei were his dirty little secret and he wondered what would happen if Soujiroh found out that Akira had known about them and where they'd been the whole time. Would Soujiroh still thank him then?

* * *

A/N: Hello my darlings! I managed to finish up chapter three…many of you are wondering why this chapter is so long winded…well it's because I had to lay some of the foundations for this story…take care everyone and please review! I don't mind if you don't like it or if you find it boring but I'd just like to know what you think…I'm more than happy to welcome your constructive criticism…


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own nothing

**Chapter 4**

Nishikado Shun; the eldest but emancipated and disowned son of the Nishikado family sat down at his desk and rubbed his temples wearily. It had been a long, long day of work at the hospital where he worked as a doctor. He had performed a total of three operations in the span of twelve hours and he was thoroughly exhausted. He leant back in his chair and his eyes stared at the picture that stood on his desk. Leaning forward, he picked up the picture and a bittersweet smile formed on his lips. He let his fingertips roam over the picture, as if trying touch the person in the picture.

"Doctor Shun?" his nurse called as she entered with a large hamper in her hands.

"Hiromi-chan?" he asked. He'd been so lost in his oasis of memories that he hadn't heard her knock, nor did he hear her enter.

"Sorry to bother you Doctor Shun but thanks to your help Kei-san and his wife were successfully able to conceive a pair of twins. They sent this in appreciation" she said as she placed the giant hamper on his desk.

"Thank you Hiromi-chan" he replied.

"Excuse me Doctor Shun but I thought you might be happy considering the fact that you achieved the impossible. There was only a ten percent chance that Kei-san and his wife would be able to become parents" she replied.

"I'm sorry Hiromi-chan, I am happy but it's just that I'm feeling a little nostalgic at the moment" he said and glanced at the photograph that he'd set back down on the desk. On his desk there were at least six photographs. One was of his whole family, another was of him and his beloved younger brothers Soujiroh and Sho and the rest were of him and her. Every time they'd taken a photo together, just the two of them, he'd framed it up. He held her in the highest regard and every night before he went to sleep and every morning when he woke up, it was her face that flashed upon his inward eye. The only explanation that Sho could come up with as to why he never got what he wanted, was that he was jinxed. Nothing worked out between him and the woman he loved, his life was lonely and meaningless. He had been born into a family that held high hopes for him to uphold traditions that he neither understood nor cared about.

"Isn't that Matsuoka-san?" Hiromi asked as she walked over to stand beside him, looking at the pictures.

"Yes" he replied simply.

"She's very beautiful ne?" Hiromi asked looking admiringly at the woman in the picture.

"Mmm" he agreed.

"I definitely remember her" Hiromi was saying in that excited chatter of hers. "Even though the last time she came in here was almost seven years ago, I'll never forget her face. What a beautiful face ne? And her hair, so soft" Hiromi said enviously and Shun had to agree. As a testimony to her beauty, he'd never forgotten her face now had he? Nor could he ever forget the flowery scent of her straight black hair and how soft it had felt under his fingers. He'd been haunted by it in his dreams for a long while now.

"Anyway thank you for bringing the hamper Hiromi-chan" he said hoping she'll take the hint and leave him alone. He wasn't in the mood for her idle chatter. Usually she was pleasant to be around and he didn't mind her company. She usually talked about her two young children or the patients and sometimes about anything she could think of. But today he didn't feel like talking nor did he feel like listening.

"It's no problem Doctor Shun", she replied from her place beside him. She was still looking at the frames that sat on his desk when she noticed one particular picture. "Are they your brothers?" she asked pointing to the picture of Soujiroh, Sho and him that was taken just days before he left home.

"Yes" he replied "that's my younger brother Soujiroh in the middle and my youngest brother Sho on the left".

"He looks very familiar" she replied suddenly, pointing at Soujiroh.

"Familiar?" Shun asked looking at her curiously.

"Hmm" she replied looking thoughtful.

"Did you by any chance err…sleep with him?" he asked hoping to god that she hadn't slept with him.

"No although I might have liked to" she replied wistfully.

"Oh thank god" he exclaimed. Although this drew attention to the fact that Hiromi could be classified in the category of the five percent of Japanese women who were below the age of thirty and who hadn't slept with Soujiroh.

"No I've actually met him before" she replied. "Like a long, long time ago but I'm trying to remember when".

"Really? You've met Soujiroh but you haven't slept with him?" Shun asked curiously.

"Yes" she replied furrowing her brows. "Oh yes!" she exclaimed "now I remember, I met him a few years ago, just about a week after Matsuoka-san came to see you. I think at that time he was going out with Nurse Seiko, although their relationship lasted a total of thirteen hours. He's Nishikado Soujiroh from the F4 isn't he?"

Shun blinked as the realization hit him. That was indeed how Soujiroh had met Hiromi. Shun had remembered his anguish when he realized that it had been Soujiroh sitting in those awful orange hospital chairs, waiting for Seiko to pick up a few of her things that she'd forgotten. Shun had immediately pulled on his operating mask in a pathetic attempt to hide his features from his brother. He thanked his lucky stars that at that at that point in time none of the nurses had known his family name. They'd always called him Doctor Shun; he'd started off that way. He didn't want people knowing he was a Nishikado; it would have only brought impending doom onto him. He was strictly professional anyway and didn't mingle with the rest of the staff so his personal life was never exposed.

"Oh my gosh!" Hiromi exclaimed. "If he's you're brother then wouldn't that make you a Nishikado too?" she asked.

"Yes Hiromi-chan" he replied dully and prepared for the tirade of question that his reply would bring from her.

"But- but Doctor Shun how come you don't use your last name? All this time I thought your last name was Shun" she exclaimed with a laugh.

"Look Hiromi-chan" he said slowly. He was beginning to get a migraine and she was adding to it greatly. "The reason why I don't use my last name is because I'm not part of the Nishikado family anymore. I would rather people didn't know about my relation to the Nishikado family Hiromi-chan so please keep this to yourself" he said. Somehow his words seemed empty and hollow. There was absolutely no way that Hiromi was going to keep this vital piece of information to herself. Like all the other nurses in their department, Hiromi positively thrived on office gossip and this was definitely the goldmine of all office gossip to date. He was sure that by tomorrow the whole department and possible the hospital would know his relationship with the Nishikado family.

"Anyway Doctor Shun or should I say Doctor Nishikado, I have to go now. I'll see you tomorrow" she replied in a sing song voice which only provided Shun with more evidence. She was most definitely rushing off at this very moment to tell the rest. Casting a longing look at Shun, Hiromi rushed out the door, exuding excitement.

Shun groaned and put his head in his hands. There was no doubt about it, he was most definitely jinxed.

* * *

Yuuki looked up from her sketchbook as the doorbell rang. Racing to the door, she positively beamed when she opened the door to reveal a grinning Akira.

"I thought you might not have had lunch yet so I brought you a little something" he said holding up two bags of take away.

"Rei, Akira-san is here" Yuuki called and laughed as her daughter's excitement was heard all the way from the little girl's bedroom.

"Akira-san!" she yelled and launched herself at him.

"Careful Rei" Yuuki lectured as the little girl almost toppled Akira over.

"No Yuuki-chan, its ok" Akira replied. He handed the bags to Yuuki and picked up the little girl who was tightly hugging him around the waist.

"How's my favorite girl today?" he asked looking at her fondly.

"She's been a little mischievous today" Yuuki added as she set the food onto the table.

"Is that so?" Akira asked Rei who simply buried her face in his neck in her shame.

"It took a few threats to get her to turn off the television. Plus our little missy over here refused to have her shower and take her vitamins" Yuuki explained to Akira, although she didn't sound angry.

"Hmm, is that so Rei-chan?" Akira asked Rei pretending to sound strict.

"Yes" she replied in a small voice that was muffled as her face was still buried into his neck.

"Rei-chan you should listen to your mama ok?" he said.

"I know, sorry" she replied in that same muffled voice as her face remained buried in his neck.

"You shouldn't be apologizing to me, you should say sorry to your mama. She's doing her best" Akira replied.

Rei slowly turned her face to look at her mother and stared at her with large teary brown eyes. "Sorry mama" she said.

"Its ok baby" Yuuki replied with a large smile.

"That's a good girl" Akira praised and Rei smiled bashfully at him. "You must be hungry, come let's eat shall we?" he asked and both Yuuki and Rei nodded.

He sat Rei down at her chair and went into the kitchen to help Yuuki bring out the plates. "By the way" he said to Yuuki when they were alone in the kitchen. "What did you threaten Rei-chan with?"

"Oh" she replied with a laugh "I threatened her and said that if she didn't do those things then she can't go with you today or stay over at your house tonight".

"And she obeyed you immediately after that?" Akira asked hiding his happiness.

"Immediately" Yuuki agreed.

"Oh" was all Akira replied but inside his heart was rejoicing. He realized how much Rei must love spending time with him and it immediately set him in an ecstatic mood. He was usually in a good mood when he spent time with Rei. Her happiness was infectious and he often succumbed to it. He looked forward to spending time with her and after a hard day, all he needed to do was call up Yuuki's house and Rei's unfathomable chatter would put him at ease.

* * *

Soujiroh was supposed to be meeting Minako in about twenty minutes. She said that she'd meet him in front of the Café Dune and that's precisely where he was at the moment. It was very out of character for Soujiroh to be punctual; he was one who preferred to be fashionably late. That way, he could make a grand entrance and be the centre of attention. This time he'd been so restless that he'd decided to hop onto his bike and ride around, which was why he was early and waiting outside the café. The women that passed him gave him appreciative looks and one even boldly dared to ask him for his number. She was a pretty creature, with curly black hair, but remembering his current engaged status, he had to decline. He pulled out his cell phone and was about call Minako when the door to the café opened, accidentally banging into him. Soujiroh waited for the person to apologize to him, but he carried on walking. The man was oblivious to the fact that he'd bumped into someone important and he kept on walking.

"Oi, you!" Soujiroh called angrily after the man. "You bumped into me and you don't even have the manners to say sorry". If anything pissed Soujiroh off more than his mother, it was rude people with no manners. Soujiroh was already in a bad mood and usually this made it easier to lose his temper and flare up. The man stopped in his tracks and Soujiroh smirked at his back and placed his hands on his hips. There was no way this man was going to get away that easily. Although the smirk on his lips vanished at once, the minute the man turned around.

There was no mistaking the impeccable Italian fashion of his clothes and the smooth leather of his shoes. Despite the sunglasses shielding the man's eyes from the sun, there was no denying that the man who had bumped into him was indeed the eldest and only son of the Mimasaka family.

"Akira?" he asked; confusion evident on his fine features.

"Eh? Soujiroh?" Akira asked, his expression mirroring Soujiroh.

Soujiroh's eyes shifted to Akira's hand that seemed to be clasping another smaller one. He blinked twice as he realized that he hadn't even noticed Akira holding the hand of a young girl. He hadn't been aware that Akira knew any little girls apart from his twin sisters. His eyes did a double take when he caught sight of her smiling face and those big, brown eyes.

"Hello mister!" she said and waved enthusiastically at him. Soujiroh realized that he must have been openly gawking at her.

"Rei-chan?" he asked as his mouth opened and closed like a goldfish. This time it wasn't just Soujiroh who was gawking; Akira had looked totally abashed and was staring back and forth between Rei and Soujiroh.

"Hello" Rei greeted again.

"You-you know him?" Akira asked, unable to process the idea that Soujiroh and Rei had met previously.

"Yes" Rei replied with a nod of her head.

"How-how? Where? When? _Why?_" Akira asked as his mind began to work in a speed that only a race car driver would be able to appreciate.

"Well, mister over here helped me when I was lost. He wanted to help me find mama but before he could find her, I already found her" Rei replied. The air deflated from Akira like a balloon.

"Did he meet your mama?" Akira asked Rei and she shook her head.

"No".

"Oh" Akira replied and relief flooded him.

"How do you know her?" Soujiroh asked Akira, looking curious.

"Her mother is a really good friend of mine" Akira replied truthfully.

"Now I'm positive that this is the same Benji" Soujiroh said looking at the teddy bear in Rei's arms. "I thought I recognized him when I fist met Rei-chan but I wasn't sure".

"Yes, Benji used to be Akira-san's" Rei put in helpfully. "But when I was little he gave Benji to mama to give to me. Do you want to hold him?" Rei asked Soujiroh whose eyes were still fixed on the brown bear.

"Eh?" he asked.

"Do you want to hold Benji?" Rei asked as she held out Benji to him.

"No it's ok I"- he broke off as she thrust the bear into his arms. Before he knew it, he had unconsciously pulled the bear closer to his chest.

"I let my mama hug Benji too" Rei said. "Sometimes when she's sad, I let her hug Benji. He makes her feel better".

"I see" Soujiroh replied as he held the bear up to stare at its face. It looked the same as he remembered but a little more worn and there was an added smell about it. It was a combination between talcum powder and a flowery scent. It was like he'd known that smell in a dream, like he'd somehow smelt it before. He identified the smell with comfort, security and even love. After all he'd given Akira Benji as a symbol of his platonic, brotherly love for his best friend. Without thinking, right then and there in the middle of the sidewalk, he pressed his nose into Benji's fur and took a deep breath.

The expression on Akira's face was priceless "Soujiroh?" he asked cautiously but his friend didn't seem to hear him. Rei wiggled her little fingers into Akira's palm and he immediately closed his fingers around them. She was smiling brightly as she watched Soujiroh.

"Maybe mister is sad too?" Rei offered. "Benji will make him happy" she replied.

"Err…" was all Akira replied as he watched as Soujiroh patted the chocolate fur of the bear.

After seconds that seems like minutes, Soujiroh realized that he was cuddling Benji openly in the middle of the pavement and he immediately thrust the bear back at Rei.

"Well we'd better be going" Akira announced "we've got a lot to do ahead of us don't we Rei-chan? We've got to go to the amusement park and we're going ice skating later" he replied.

"Don't forget that Rui is throwing me and Minako a celebratory engagement party at his house tomorrow night" Soujiroh told Akira who nodded in understanding.

"Take care" Akira replied in farewell.

"Bye mister" Rei said and to his great surprise she hugged him around his waist. "Don't be sad mister, cheer up" she whispered and with a smile, she held out her hand to Akira who took it in his own.

Soujiroh looked on as Akira and Rei walked away from him. Rei was dressed neatly and well. She was wearing a maroon dress that looked expensive and tailor made. Her shoes were leather and white frilly socks reached her ankles. Her hair was tied up in pigtails with maroon ribbons, although the ribbon on one of her pigtails had come untied. Soujiroh watched with avid fascination as Akira stopped and turned to Rei, gently retying the ribbon. It was only after watching this tender display did Soujiroh have such horrifying thoughts. Rei wasn't Akira's daughter, was she?

"Nishikado-san?" came a smooth feminine voice from behind Soujiroh. He whirled around and was greeted by Minako's pearly white bleached teeth.

"Oh, Minako-chan" he said.

"What are you looking at Nishikado-san?" she asked.

"Nothing" he replied and although she didn't look like she believed him, she kept quiet about it. With a small smile, she led him into the café where they would have their pretend date. Although, Soujiroh knew he would be useless company for his thoughts were too focused on the prospect of Rei being Akira's daughter. He didn't think his friend would lie to him, but he also knew that Akira had his own little secrets. Soujiroh just hoped Rei wasn't one of them.

* * *

It was almost one in the morning when Soujiroh, unable to quell his festering imagination, rang the doorbell to the Mimasaka household. It was a Friday night and normally he would have been out, painting the town red. Though, since he was engaged to Minako he had to practice some sort of self control, which was why he decided to put his wandering mind to rest instead. He was going to ask Akira once and for all, if he was Rei's father. Their relationship itself probed much curiosity in Soujiroh. He wondered why Akira of all people would bother spending time with a little girl. He had known Akira for practically all of his life and he knew that in all his twenty eight years, Akira had never spent more than a minute with a child who was not his sisters.

It took all of five minutes for someone to answer the door and to Soujiroh's great surprise; it was Aimee Mimasaka who greeted him. He had known for a fact that Aimee Mimasaka had always gone to bed at nine. According to her, at least ten hours of sleep was essential for beauty reasons. Yet there she stood before him, a vision in white with a crown of jasmine flowers resting on her head.

"Aimee-san" he greeted with a small bow. She'd insisted he call her Aimee since according to her they were 'old friends'. He had felt uncomfortable with the idea and had opted instead to add a 'san' at the back.

"Soujiroh-kun!" she exclaimed in excitement and his eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. Despite the fact that he had rung the doorbell at one in the morning, she hadn't seemed angry or irritated at all. If someone had disturbed Soujiroh and rung his doorbell at that ungodly hour, they wouldn't be alive to witness the next rising of the sun.

"How are you Aimee-san?" he asked politely.

"Fantastic!" she exclaimed clapping her hands together. She gave Soujiroh the impression of someone who had swallowed a whole bottle of anti-depressants.

"Is Akira around?" he asked.

"Yes, he's upstairs. Come in I'll take you to him" she replied cheerfully, her smile never wavering from her face.

"Err…Aimee-san I don't mean any offense but how come you're awake at his hour? Don't you go to sleep early?" Soujiroh asked as they walked up the grand staircase that led to the second floor.

"Oh yes I do but when Rei-chan is around no one sleeps" she replied with a laugh. "That little girl really knows how to liven things up. I haven't played so much since the twins were that age" she reminisced fondly.

"Rei-chan?" Soujiroh asked.

"Yes, Rei-chan is spending the night here. Akira just loves Rei-chan" Aimee replied.

"She's spending the night here?" Soujiroh asked incredulously.

"Ummm hmmm" Aimee murmured.

"Does she stay here often?" Soujiroh asked.

"Not often enough" Aimee replied. "But she stays here at least two days a week and I can definitely say that everyone else waits for those days".

Soujiroh looked curiously at the door of Akira's room where loud upbeat music pulsated through the doors. What the hell was going on? He anticipated the seconds that led up to Aimee opening the door to reveal a very peculiar scene. There was a large, white plastic sheet lying on the floor of Akira's monstrous bedroom. The white sheet had yellow, green, red and blue circles on it. The four occupants of the room apart from Aimee and himself were laughing and dancing to the music while jumping on Akira's gargantuan bed. Soujiroh's mouth dropped open in horror as he realized that Akira was among the 'bed jumpers'.

"Akira?" he exclaimed and if his pride permitted him to faint, Soujiroh would have collapsed right then and there on the marble floor.

"Oh hey Soujiroh" Akira causally greeted mid-jump. Soujiroh's eyes shifted up and down, following Akira's movements. He was definitely going insane. No, Akira was going insane. A second later, Akira seemed to realize that Soujiroh really was standing there and he practically fell off the bed. "Soujiroh!" he exclaimed as soon as he scrambled to his feet. "What are you doing here?"

Soujiroh shrugged. "I was bored" he remarked. "I just wanted to see what you were up to and apparently you're busy" he said quirking an eyebrow.

"Oh" Akira replied and two faint spots of pink colored his cheeks.

"Soujiroh-san!" The twins exclaimed in excitement.

"Emu-chan, Memu-chan" he greeted with a smile. It was then that his gaze landed on the little girl who had been in the center of his thoughts since he'd seen her that day.

"Mister?" the girl asked.

"Hello Rei-chan" he greeted and he couldn't help but smile. There was something about her, he had to admit, that made him feel happier.

"Are you here to play too mister?" she asked and he wasn't sure how to answer her.

"Yes Rei-chan" came the reply. Aimee Mimasaka had taken the liberty of answering for him. Rei had just only realized Aimee's presence in the room and she beamed.

"Aimee-san, you took a long time. We were waiting for you so that we can start the game" she exclaimed. "Is Mister playing too?" she asked looking somewhat excited at the possibility that Soujiroh might have been there to play too.

"Game?" Soujiroh asked.

"Yes Soujiroh" Akira replied somewhat irritably. "We usually play games when Rei-chan is around and tonight its twister". Soujiroh was slightly taken aback by Akira's snappy tone. The latter was the most pleasant of the F4 and must have really been irritated to show it so openly.

"I'm not"- Any protests at playing that Soujiroh had attempted to voice had fallen on deaf ears as Rei bounced over to him and grabbed him by the hand. Looking up at him with hopeful eyes, he couldn't help but give in. "Oh alright" he said with a resigned sigh. Akira narrowed his eyes at Soujiroh and eyed him suspiciously.

"Hold on a second Rei-chan" Akira said. "Soujiroh and I need to talk for a second ok?"

"Sure Akira-san" she replied and flashed him the cutest smile Soujiroh had ever seen on a child.

Akira grabbed a hold of Soujiroh's arm and pulled him into main hallway, shutting his bedroom door behind him. "What are you doing here?" Akira hissed.

"I came to see you" Soujiroh replied casually.

"At one in the bloody morning?" Akira shot back.

"Well I wanted to talk about Rei-chan" Soujiroh replied.

"What about her?" Akira asked defensively.

"Is she your daughter?" Soujiroh asked. He was never one to beat about the bush; he always got straight to the question.

"What? Are you mad? Soujiroh have you lost your mind?" his best friend asked.

"No, I mean you seem so close so I just thought that"-

"Well be realistic, if she was really my daughter don't you think I'd have done everything in my power to keep her with me instead of getting to spend two measly days with her a week?" Akira replied with a bittersweet laugh.

"Well I just thought"- Soujiroh began.

"Well you thought wrong" Akira replied and Soujiroh detected a hint of bitterness in his friend's voice.

"How do you know her?" Soujiroh asked.

"I told you that she's my good friend's daughter" Akira replied tiredly. "Haven't we already been through all of this?"

"Yes but I'm curious as to why you would spend two days a week with her if she wasn't your daughter. Your situation actually reminds me of a divorced couple sharing custody of their child" Soujiroh remarked humorously.

"No" Akira replied and the humor was lost on him. "Forgive me if I fail to see the humor in this but it's not like that at all. Her mother just happens to be a really good friend of mine. She's a single mother who's trying to earn a living and by me spending those two days with Rei-chan, it gives her mother a little break and it brightens up my week" Akira replied, like he's already pre planned this answer and was ready to narrate it to anyone who asked. Perhaps he'd been asked this question far too many times to count and the answer had been embedded into his mind. Or was he lying?

Akira's room door opened and Rei poked her little head out. "Akira-san, Mister? Are you coming to play? We're waiting!" she said with a toothy grin. Upon seeing Akira's smile, Rei opened the door wider and walked over to Akira, tugging his hand. With a backward glance at Soujiroh, Akira disappeared into the depths of his room.

**Half an hour later**

Soujiroh had read the Kama Sutra cover to cover and he'd memorized most of the positions listed in the text and even tried out a fair few for himself. But never ever, had he been in such a position that he was in now. His body was a little distance off the ground and supported by his arms and his legs. His limbs were twisted in odd angles and his muscles were crying out with the strain and yet he was enjoying himself. Though he would rather kill himself than to admit it.

"Akira-kun" Soujiroh heard Aimee Mimasaka call "left foot on red".

Beside him, Akira groaned "that's the last thing I need". Slowly and steadily he raised his left foot over Soujiroh's arm, placing his foot on the red circle.

"Soujiroh-kun right hand on green" Aimee cooed and Soujiroh looked around for his target. He carefully maneuvered his right hand, grunting slightly at the effort it took, and placed it on the green circle; which was right underneath Akira's backside.

"I feel so violated" Akira announced and the Mimasaka twins giggled. "I'm being molested here!"

"Oh shut up" Soujiroh snapped "I know you secretly enjoy it don't you? Do you like it if I do this?" he asked as he lifted his hand from the green circle to pinch Akira's rear.

"Oi! Stop it! What the hell do you think you're doing, Soujiroh you'd better stop it! I'm warning you" he said. When Soujiroh didn't cease his assault on Akira's backside, Akira let out a furious "Soujiroh you bastard! You're going to make us lose!"

"Ahem!" Aimee cleared her throat warningly as she gestured to Rei who was seated beside her, looking curiously at Akira.

"Oh!" Akira replied understanding what his mother meant. "I mean Soujiroh you basket! Yes, that's right you're a basket Soujiroh!"

"Basket?" Soujiroh asked with a snort "that's the best you could come up with? Basket?"

"Memu-chan, right hand on yellow" Aimee called.

A little distance away, on another identical mat, the twins were battling it out. Since at first there had been too many to play on one mat; what with the addition of Aimee and Rei, they had decided to use two mats. The teams had been divided with the Mimasaka women one mat and Rei, Soujiroh and Akira on another mat. A short while later, Rei and Aimee had been out of the game having had enough. The twins remained on their mat challenging their brother and Soujiroh to a showdown. They had decided to see among the two teams, which team could hold out the longest.

"Ah-hah!" Memu let out in triumph as her hand claimed her circle.

"Emu-chan, right foot on blue" Aimee called as the spinning wheel in her hands came to a stop.

"Oh no" Emu groaned and crossed her leg on top of her sister's thigh in an attempt to place it on its destined circle. "Yes!" she exclaimed in triumph as her leg landed on the circle.

However a few seconds later Emu's leg trembled slightly with the imbalance and the twins collapsed onto the mat in a heap.

"Emu!" Memu chided "see what you did?"

"HAH!" Akira exclaimed. "We won!"

Rei squealed and climbed onto Akira who was still in his winning position. With a loud "oof" he collapsed onto Soujiroh who groaned in pain.

"YAY! You won Akira-san!" Rei squealed and hugged him. She then climbed off him when Memu called her.

"Come on Rei-chan, time for you to change and brush your teeth" she said and Rei bounced towards her, leaving Soujiroh and Akira alone.

"Is this what you?"- Soujiroh started to say but he was cut off by the shrill ringing of Akira's cell phone.

"Sorry I have to take this" Akira apologized as he glanced at the screen of his phone. Moving a little off to the side, Akira answered the phone. "Hello? Oh yes, don't worry. She had dinner a long, long time ago; it is three in the morning after all" Soujiroh heard him said with a chuckle. "We played twister, she's just gone to brush her teeth and change. Yeah don't worry I don't bruise easily. The first time she kicked me off the bed I got a rude shock but now I'm pretty much used to it. Alright then, see you in a few hours, take care. Bye".

He moved back to stand near Soujiroh who was looking at him curiously. "Was that Rei-chan's mother?" he asked.

"Yes" his best friend replied "she was worried that Rei-chan wasn't behaving herself which is ridiculous because Rei-chan is the most well behaved child I know".

"She's different from most children" Soujiroh remarked having seen a full display of her personality and spirit over the course of the night.

"She is" Akira agreed looking fondly at the little girl who'd come back into the room looking fresh from a wash up. She had changed into pink pajamas and was now skipping over to the two men.

"I'm back" she exclaimed throwing her hands in the air.

"Did you brush your teeth?" Akira asked.

"Yes Akira-san" she replied sweetly flashing him her teeth as evidence.

"Ok well go hop on the bed, I'll be there soon. Which story do you want to hear today?" he asked.

"I want to hear the story of the princess and the pea" she replied jumping around excitedly.

"Ok princess, I'll tell you that one, why don't you go and take the book from your cupboard?" he suggested and giving him a bright smile, she hurried over to the corner of the large room where a pink cupboard stood.

"Give me a couple of minutes I'll just read a story to her and she'll fall to sleep quickly. I'll try and be back soon" Akira told Soujiroh.

Soujiroh nodded and walked over to the corner of Akira's room. He sat down on one of the armchairs waiting patiently for Akira to finish. He could tell that Akira would have actually preferred it if Soujiroh left but there was no way he was going to do that. He had too many questions that he wanted to ask, he was curious and surprised at the relationship between Rei and Akira. He sat there a little longer until he felt the urge to get up and walk over to the bed.

"And so the prince took the princess to be his wife for he was sure that he'd found a real princess and they lived happily ever after…" Akira concluded and closed the book. Soujiroh watched as Rei let out a yawn and with a sleepy smile she reached out and pulled Akira closer to her for a hug.

"Goodnight Akira-san" she exclaimed and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good night Rei-chan" Akira replied with a loving smile on his face. Soujiroh couldn't explain how he felt at that moment but it was then that he decided that kids couldn't all be bad and if this was how a father and daughter acted that maybe he wouldn't mind being a father at all.

"Goodnight Mister" Rei said suddenly and Soujiroh realized that she was looking at him.

"Goodnight Rei-chan" he replied.

Crawling over to the edge, she reached out her hands and Soujiroh looked startled for a second. Akira chuckled and shook his head finding Soujiroh's surprise highly amusing.

"Err…Rei-chan what are you doing?" Soujiroh asked but she didn't appear to have heard him. Instead she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Soujiroh could only blink dumbly. She let go a few seconds later and crawled under the covers; closing her eyes and hugging Benji closer to her. It wasn't long before her breathing became even and she was lost in a world of slumber.

"Come on" Akira said beckoning to Soujiroh and they moved over to sit down in the corner of the room where Akira's 'mini living room' was. "How about a drink?" he asked and Soujiroh nodded. With slow precision, Akira took out two glasses and filled them with ice and bourbon and placed one in front of Soujiroh.

"How come you have a random pink cupboard in the corner of your room?" Soujiroh asked Akira, gesturing to the object of his question.

"Oh that's Rei-chan's cupboard. All her clothes and storybooks and toys are kept in there for when she comes to stay" his friend replied.

"Your family doesn't mind that Rei-chan stays here two days a week?" he asked and Akira shook his head.

"You saw them earlier, they love having her here. She's like a daughter to my mother and a sister to the twins".

"What about your father?" Soujiroh asked.

"He doesn't mind Rei-chan at all. He's hardly home but when he is, he dotes on her. He always buys a present back for her when he goes on his business trips" Akira replied. "I think it's because he likes Rei-chan so much that he keeps pushing for me to get married".

"Oh, what about Rei-chan's parents? You said that her mother's raising her on her own right? What happened to her father?"

"He's just not present" Akira replied and though Soujiroh sensed that there was more, he didn't push it.

"So this Rei-chan's mother must be some beauty" Soujiroh remarked after a sip of his drink.

"Eh?" Akira asked.

"I mean Rei-chan's going to be one hell of a heartbreaker when she grows up so I'm guessing her mother must be good looking too".

"Yeah, you have no idea" Akira replied absentmindedly.

"You're coming tonight right?" Soujiroh asked suddenly.

"You mean to the party that Rui is hosting for you and Minako?" Akira asked.

"Yeah" Soujiroh replied.

"Yeah I'm coming don't worry" Akira reassured.

"Thanks" Soujiroh replied.

"Eh Soujiroh, do you really want to get married?" Akira asked and Soujiroh shrugged.

"It's expected of me. I'm the Nishikado heir after all. Plus I don't want to end up like my brother. I don't know where he is now. My and I family aren't that close but I don't think I would want to stop seeing them for the rest of my life" he remarked. "Sometimes I wonder what happened to Sho and I wonder what he's doing at the moment. It seems like just yesterday that he walked out of the house, I think his leaving made my mother's heart turn to stone" he remarked.

"Hmm" Akira said thoughtfully. They slipped into a comfortable silence after that, the only sound was of the ice clinking against glass.

* * *

Yuuki's eyelids drooped and her head hurt. She had been up the whole night, drawing new designs. Michael had ordered twenty new designs due in a day and she barely had enough time; she was juggling her time between work and Rei. Having slept only a few hours at Akira's, Rei was taking an afternoon nap while she was busy trying to finish up some of her designs. Her cell phone buzzed and a shrill ringing echoed throughout the house.

"Moshi, Moshi" Yuuki answered.

"Moshi, Moshi Yuuki Chan?"

"Oh Minako-san?" Yuuki asked.

"Yes sorry to bother you Yuuki-chan but I was wondering if you could help me out?" she asked.

"Sure Minako-san, what with?"

"Well I ordered a gown by Roberto Baleen and it was supposed to arrive today from Italy but I'm kind of worried that the dress won't arrive today. I was wondering if you had any dresses already made that I could buy off you to use for tonight, just incase. I'm going to use it as a back up; I've got a function tonight. Oh please Yuuki-chan I promise I'll make it worth your while" she pleaded.

"Sure Minako-san I'll be glad to help you. I have a dress that's perfect for you. I actually designed a turquoise dress for myself for a friend's wedding a good few years ago and I made an identical one just a few days ago but it's got an added train plus Swarovski crystals along the bodice and silver embroidery along the skirt. I hope you don't mind that the concept of the dress isn't new, seeing as I made myself a dress of that design a long while back, but I promise you the new additions I've made to the design looks a lot nicer".

"Sure, no problem Yuuki-chan besides I doubt anyone would recognize the design" Minako replied with a laugh.

"So I'll bring it over tonight?" she asked.

"Yes I'll give you the address for the place. It's my fiancé's friend's house but tell them that you're there to deliver my dress and they'll let you in" she replied.

When Yuuki had taken down the address, she sighed and rested her head on the table. She'd have to find another babysitter for Rei.

* * *

Yuuki had gone to the front entrance but upon eyeing her attire of a jeans and turtleneck, the bouncer had immediately inquired why she was there. She'd told him honestly that she was there to deliver a dress for Minako when she'd shown him the dress, he directed her to the back entrance. She was in no state to be seen by important people.

"Minako-san" she called upon knocking the door of the room that she'd been let to use as a changing room.

The door opened to reveal Minako clad in a stunning burgundy gown. "Yuuki-chan!" She exclaimed with a smile as she saw Yuuki.

"You asked me to bring the dress?" Yuuki said.

"Oh yes, come in, come in" Minako said ushering her into the room. "Thank you for bringing the dress but my gown came through after all. No matter, I'll just pay you for your trouble and I'll buy the dress as well" Minako replied. There was a knock on the door again and Minako called "come in". The door opened and a servant walked in carrying a try with tea and some cakes.

It happened so fast that no one saw it coming. The servant tripped over a fold in the carpet and Yuuki felt as if everything was moving in slow motion. Cake and tea seemed to fly all over the place. Then came the loud piercing shriek over the sounds of breaking china.

"MY DRESS!"

"G-g-gom-m-men" came the meek, stuttering apology of the servant but it was too late. The damage had already been done.

"GET OUT!" Minako shrieked surveying her dress with horror and the servant didn't need to be told twice. She bolted out of the room.

"Don't worry Minako-san" Yuuki soothed "you have a spare dress remember?"

"But what about my hair and make up? It was all done just half an hour ago and now I've got tea and cake in my hair" Minako wailed.

"Don't worry" Yuuki said smiling reassuringly "I'll help you out. I did a few courses in make up. Just in case if in the future I have a fashion show, I know what make up designs I want my models to have. How about you go and take a shower and freshen up and after that I'll help you".

"Thank you Yuuki-chan, I know you must be busy. Sorry to trouble you" Minako said humbly.

"It's alright" Yuuki replied knowing that Rei was at the Domyouji household where the babysitter was watching over her and Tsukashi.

* * *

Soujiroh was growing impatient. Minako was supposed to be there half an hour ago. The Hanazawa family's dining hall was already packed with people and all that was missing now was the leading lady of the entire function.

"Where's Minako-chan?" Rui asked in his calm collected demeanor.

"I have no idea" Soujiroh replied. "She was supposed to be down half an hour ago".

"I let her use one of the guest rooms as a changing room, perhaps she's still not dressed yet?" Rui suggested.

"How long does it actually take for women to get dressed?" Soujiroh asked, his voice laced with irritation.

"A long time, believe me" Akira added with a tired sigh.

"Yes" Tsukasa agreed "back when we were dating Makino used to take a long time to get dressed too and she didn't even have that many clothes to choose from". He glowered at his wife when she stepped on his foot, grinding her heel onto his instep.

"What?" Tsukasa snapped "I was just being honest besides it's the truth".

"That doesn't mean that you have to go around and tell everyone" Makino hissed.

"What do you mean? They're not just anyone, they're like my brothers and it's not like they didn't know that you were dirt poor before you married me" Tsukasa hissed back.

Akira, Soujiroh and Rui rolled their eyes simultaneously. "This is really getting tiring" Akira mumbled to himself.

"Can the two of you just shut up for a minute?" Soujiroh snapped in annoyance.

"Oi Soujiroh" Akira said "relax".

Soujiroh let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "It's just that this party is yet another reminder of how real my situation is" he replied.

"Well Rui took a lot of trouble to prepare this for you" Akira remarked, ever the voice of reason.

He didn't get a chance to say anything further as Minako walked into the hall. There was no doubt in Soujiroh's mind that she was beautiful. She was wearing a magnificent dress. It was a turquoise so rich that Soujiroh felt like he was drowning in it. The little crystals along the bodice seemed to emphasize her ample cleavage and narrow waist. He noticed that her make up was also very well done and it brought out her eyes, making them appear more glamorous than he remembered. Her hair was done in elegant curls, falling to her mid-back. Perhaps this arrangement between them might not be so torturous after all. Yet there was a niggling at the back of his mind that he couldn't ignore. There was something about her that looked so familiar that he felt that sense of déjà vu.

"Minako-chan" he greeted as she glided up to him in her ethereal turquoise gown.

"Nishikado-san" she replied with slight bow of her head.

"You look incredible Minako-chan" Tsukushi gushed coming to stand before Minako with the rest of the F4.

"Thank you" Minako replied shyly.

"Although I thought you were going to use the burgundy Roberto Baleen gown?" Tsukushi asked.

"Yes but due to some unforeseen circumstances I had to use this one instead" she replied.

"It suits you though" Tsukushi complimented and Akira and Rui agreed. Soujiroh nodded but he didn't voice out his agreement. Tsukasa meanwhile was looking at Minako in a way that could be deemed as comical. His eyes were narrowed to slits and his fingers were splayed on his chin. He looked to be in deep concentration. Every two seconds or so he would tilt his head and furrow his brows muttering quietly to himself.

"I got it" Tuskasa finally exclaimed after a while.

"What?" Makino asked and Akira, Soujiroh and Rui turned their attention to him.

"I thought Minako-chan's dress looked familiar. I've seen it before. Eh Makino didn't your friend wear a dress like this for our wedding?" he asked as he turned to his wife.

"Eh?" Akira and Rui asked in unison while Soujiroh began to mirror Tsukasa's actions of a few seconds ago and began staring at the dress.

"Nonsense, Yuuki-chan wore a different dress. Minako-chan's dress is more glamorous" Tsukushi replied trying to cover up her husband's discovery.

"Did you say Yuuki-chan?" Minako asked suddenly. "As in Matsuoka Yuuki?"

"I err…Yes?" Tsukushi replied nervously. There was no way she could cover up now.

"Matsuoka Yuuki made this dress" Minako answered and Soujiroh, Tsukasa, Akira, Rui and not to mention Tsukushi gaped at her.

"She what?" Soujiroh exclaimed suddenly.

"Yeah she made this dress for me for tonight" Minako replied. "In fact she delivered this dress to me earlier. She was here just here a few minutes ago but she's probably left now. I"-

Soujiroh didn't wait for her to finish speaking. He raced out of the dining hall and out into the corridor. Letting his feet guide him, he ran out of the house and onto the long never ending gravel driveway that led to the Hanazawa mansion.

"Yuuki-chan" he called out loudly to a lone figure walking down the gravel path, towards the main entrance of the Hanazawa mansion. Soujiroh was breathing heavily and sweat was beading at his forehead from the anticipation of finally seeing her after all these years.

The figure stopped in her tracks and turned around slowly. She looked the same, if not better than Soujiroh remembered. Her long straight hair which hung to her mid back was half shielded under a black velvet barrette, and though she was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, Soujiroh thought she looked beautiful. The moon hung low like a pale gold orb in the sky, illuminating her sharp and delicate features. Her eyes widened in horror as soon as they met his. He watched as her mouth dropped open and she seemed frozen to the spot. It had been seven years since he'd last seen her. Seven years. And yet all he could do was utter her name over and over again like a broken record.

"Yuuki-chan, Yuuki-chan, YUUKI-CHAN!"

* * *

Author's note: Muahahaha hello my pretties, finally what was bound to happen after seven years has happened!! I am evil aren't I? Sorry to leave you hanging on a cliff like that…but it had to be done! I do hope you read and review and tell me how you feel about it!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!!Nothing belongs to me!

**Chapter 5**

"Yuuki-chan, Yuuki-chan, YUUKI-CHAN!"

The mere exclamation of her name seemed to jerk her out of the trance that his appearance put her in. An icy fist clawed her heart as Yuuki mentally processed who was actually standing right there in front of her. Her eyes widened and she realized that she would definitely have to talk to him and at this point in time, nothing seemed to terrify her more. She should have known that her luck had been too good to last. Although the others had been careful not to speak of her to him, she should have known that fate wouldn't have been as kind as to totally eradicate him from her life. She tried to move her feet but she couldn't. They were rooted to the spot. She had been running away from him for seven years and despite her burying her love for him deep in the bowels of her heart, the pain still remained.

When she'd first moved to New York, she'd been unhappy. For about an entire year, she'd been utterly miserable. Despite living with her sister Reiko and brother in law Mimura who cared for her so deeply, she'd still felt unhappy; like something was missing from her life. She progressed well with her job and soon climbed the ladder high enough to be accepted to work with Michael. But she felt empty within; it was like she had absolutely no idea what she was living for. It was as if she was just there, living life but in actual fact not really living it at all. There was no reason for her to keep on going until Rei came. It was as if fate and destiny had brought her a gift, her own little ray of hope. As she stared unbelieving at Soujiroh, she wished Reiko was there. Her elder sister often knew what to do in times like this and her advice would have been greatly appreciated.

"Yuuki-chan?" she heard Soujiroh call again but this time it was more questioning.

Yuuki merely blinked at him, unsure of what to do. She felt furious with herself. What the hell was she just standing there for? She should be doing something, anything. She had convinced herself that he was nothing to her. It was the same mantra that she had been repeating to herself for the past seven years.

She had to admit though, that the years had been kind to him. He was a little leaner than the last time they met. His face was still as flawless as before but with an added sense of maturity that hadn't been there before. All in all he still resembled the Adonis that she'd worshipped back then but at the same time there was something about him that seemed different, more melancholic. Perhaps it was the dark circles around his eyes that made him seem haunted or maybe it was the loss of the twinkle in his eyes that had been there before; Yuuki wasn't quite sure. All she knew was that he wasn't entirely the same Nishikado Soujiroh that she'd known before.

"Yuuki-chan?" he asked again as if waiting for a response from her but her mind went blank.

He took a step towards her, walking slowly and cautiously as if the next step he took might push her over the edge. What he didn't know was that it was. He seemed to stop about five steps away from her but that was a good enough distance for her to properly smell him. His cologne seemed to overwhelm and intoxicate her senses making her head swim with a thousand different images of him. She knew that one day this moment would come, that she would have to meet him face to face. But never did she imagine that it would have to be so soon. She stood up right, mustering up her courage. She would have to be strong! She wasn't a pathetic teenager. She was twenty seven years old and she could handle this. Right?

* * *

Up close, Soujiroh found her even more beautiful. She had matured nicely into a woman and he regretted not being around to witness it. No more was she the giggling schoolgirl that followed him around calling his name over and over again. He stared at the woman before him, unable to believe his eyes. He had been searching for her for seven bloody years. Soujiroh was one who always cared about his friends and although he hadn't and still didn't love Yuuki, he considered her a friend. In fact she was almost close friend, seeing as she was always around when everyone met up, due to Tsukushi being her best friend.

"Yuuki-chan" he said again hoping that she'd reply.

"Nishikado-san" she said, her voice a mere whisper.

"How are you Yuuki-chan? I've been looking for you for"- he broke off as her eyes widened and she turned around, running in the opposite direction from him, running for her bloody life. "What the fuck?" Soujiroh cursed. Why the hell was she running away from him?

"Yuuki-chan!" he called as he took off after her.

* * *

_Shit_! Yuuki cursed inwardly as she heard his rapid approaching footsteps behind her. She didn't know why she was running. She had initially wanted to face him as an adult but by running away it just proved that she was one hell of a childish individual. _No I shouldn't be running away, I'm an adult now. I can't be running just because I've got a problem._ When she reached the main gate of the mansion, she stopped suddenly and turned around to face him (he was her problem after all). Soujiroh who had been running at such a break neck speed wasn't prepared for her sudden stop and tried to brake with his feet. Unfortunately he lost balance and tripped over his own feet falling to the ground with"oof".

"Son of a bitch" he cursed as he grazed his right hand on the rough ground. Blood seeped from the cuts on his hand. Yuuki gasped at the sight of blood pouring from his hand and rushed to him. Without thinking she pulled off the shawl she was wearing around her neck and immediately began to bandage his hand muttering her apologies.

"I'm so sorry Nishikado-san are you ok?" she asked and he merely stared at her.

* * *

He had missed her voice, hell he had missed her. She had been a constant presence in his life and then one day all of a sudden, she'd vanished just like that. And now that she was there, he wasn't going to let her go.

"Yuuki-chan" he began tilting his head slightly to look at her. He was still on the ground while she squatted down beside him to wrap his hand. "Why did you?"- He broke off as another voice interrupted.

"Soujiroh! Oi Soujiroh, where have you been we've been looking all over for"- It was Akira. Neither he nor Yuuki seemed to have noticed Akira jogging towards them till he spoke. Having seen Yuuki, Akira trailed off looking like someone had slapped him.

"Yuuki-chan?" Akira asked incredulously.

"Akira-san" Yuuki said bowing dutifully. "It's been a long time ne?"

"Oh-oh Yuuki-chan, it has" Akira replied with a smile.

Soujiroh didn't notice the secret looks passed between them. And if he had been paying attention, he would have found it strange that Yuuki had addressed Akira by his first name. Then again, Soujiroh probably wouldn't have been paying attention even if Tsukasa walked up to him in a leopard print thong doing the Macarena; considering what kind of mental state seeing Yuuki had put him in.

"Akira-san, I think we need to get the first aid kit because Nishikado-san has hurt his hand" Yuuki said. Akira looked down at Soujiroh's hand and his eyes widened.

"Soujiroh, are you ok? What happened?" Akira asked as he squatted down beside his friend.

"Akira, I'm fine, it's just a couple of cuts" Soujiroh replied dismissively and pulled his hand from Akira who was examining it intensely. He didn't want Yuuki to think that he was some sort of a weakling who felt pain. Although god did his hand hurt.

"Lets go back in, you should at least put some antiseptic cream on it" Akira advised.

"Fine" Soujiroh agreed and he'd taken it for granted that Yuuki would follow them. However, he didn't notice the unspoken conversation between Yuuki and Akira nor did he realize that while he was walking ahead, Yuuki was slowly inching backwards towards the main gate.

"Oi Soujiroh, you should be more careful ne?" Akira chided. "And what will Minako-chan think if you go back with your hand in this condition?"

Soujiroh kept quiet while Akira lectured him on the possibility of getting gangrene from infected cuts, inflammations, bacterial infections and even went as far as to explain the possibility of getting AIDS from untreated wounds. This went on for a good five minutes till Soujiroh decided to talk to Yuuki who was probably walking silently behind them. She would have been much better conversation at the moment, compared to Akira who was at the moment insisting that it was important to know the various different types of western and herbal medicines used to treat cuts.

"Yuuki-chan don't you think Akira is being a little far fetched?" he asked and turned around to hear her response but she wasn't there. He looked around wildly and Akira too stopped walking.

"What's wrong Soujiroh?" Akira asked turning to look at his friend.

"Shit! I should have known she'd try to run away" he cursed running his uninjured hand through his hair.

"Do you want to go and look for her?" Akira asked.

"What's the use?" he exclaimed, frustrated. "She's probably off somewhere by now. ARGH!" he roared and kicked at the pebbled path on the road.

"Shall- shall we go back inside? It is your engagement party after all and the rest might be wondering where you went" Akira said a little hesitantly.

Soujiroh didn't reply but merely consented to being led back into the house by his best friend with occasional back glances at the main gate.

* * *

In truth, Akira felt guilty. He wasn't the type to lie to his best friend but he had to. He would do anything to protect Yuuki, if it meant protecting Rei as well. He'd noticed the panicked expression on Yuuki's face and he realized at once what had to be done. It seemed cruel though, to separate Soujiroh from the woman he'd been trying to find for seven years. But it was necessary. Soujiroh would only end up hurting Yuuki and Akira didn't think that it was fair. Yuuki had already been through so much in that seven years and he didn't think she could stand it if Soujiroh hurt her too.

After leaving Soujiroh in the company of Minako, Rui, Tsukasa and Tsukushi, Akira had excused himself saying that he needed to use to toilet. However, he wasn't going to use the toilet, he just needed an excuse for him to go back outside again. He wanted to be sure that Yuuki had left, just to put his mind at ease.

Akira knew that sooner or later Soujiroh would find out the truth. Soujiroh wasn't stupid and he would eventually find out that Akira and the rest had been keeping in touch with Yuuki all these years and yet no one told him. Yet he could only hope that when that day came, Soujiroh would be able to understand that Akira didn't lie to Soujiroh for himself.

He did it for Yuuki.

* * *

Yuuki didn't stop running till she reached the edge of the street, past the main gate and by the time she stopped she was clutching her sides and gasping for breath. The only reason why she had made it outside without Soujiroh noticing was because of Akira. She'd mouthed her plea for help to him and he complied, albeit reluctantly. He'd caused a distraction by his absolutely grotesque conversation/lecture with Soujiroh so that Yuuki could escape. After getting over the initial shock and fear of seeing him, she'd resolved to talk to him and work things out like the adult that she was. Yet the minute she saw Akira, her confidence wavered. She didn't want to get Akira in trouble. Any slight slip up and Soujiroh would know that Akira had been keeping in touch with her all these years. She was aware that Soujiroh had been looking for her. Akira had told her. Yet she'd deliberately asked him to help her out and make sure that whatever Soujiroh did, he wouldn't find her. Akira had connections after all and he'd made full use of them. It was all thanks to those connections that Soujiroh had reached a dead end with his search.

She had parked her car on the road in front of the main gate to the mansion and when she was sure that no one was following her, she made her way back to the main gate. Standing before the towering structure her eyes glanced on the name plate beside it.

**HANAZAWA**

She smacked her hand to her forehead. If it was a Hanazawa party then of course Soujiroh and Akira would have been there. Not only they, but Tsukushi, Tsukasa and Rui would obviously be there as well. This time she had made the right decision to run away. If she had gone back into the mansion there was a high possibility that Soujiroh would have pieced together the fact that they'd _all_ known her whereabouts and kept it hidden from him. That was bound to cause a big blow up. Soujiroh was known to have anger management problems and often got into fights when he was not happy. Yuuki didn't want to be the cause of those fights. Once she's known that the mansion belonged to the Hanazawa family, it was no wonder that Minako was at the party. After all her father Ken Watanabe was one of the top twenty most influential men in Japan. Her family and the families of the F4 all probably knew each other.

She stood in front of her car and reached into her handbag, fumbling around for her car keys. Where did she put those wretched things? She'd taken them out of her handbag earlier when she had to look for her lip gloss for Minako. But she was sure that she had put them back in right? She began to search more frantically, it was getting late and she wanted nothing more than to get back home. She looked up from her bag when a loud cat call pierced her ears. Looking up she came face to face with a group of five men.

"Well, well, look what we have here?" one of them called and the others behind him leered openly at her.

"Eh Taro you shouldn't disturb pretty girls" one of them called, coming to the front to stand beside Taro.

"Shut up Mikio" he told the man beside him. "How about coming with us for a drink eh?" Taro tasked turning to Yuuki. She cringed as she smelt the foul stench of his breath.

"I'm sorry" she replied with dignity "I have somewhere else to be". She tried to move past them but Taro gripped her arm.

"Come on, it's just for a while" he cooed.

"Sorry I really have to go" she replied and wrenched her hand out of his grasp but while doing so, she accidentally scratched Taro's face with her fingernails. His let out a feral growl and Yuuki felt a sudden fear wash over her.

"You bitch!" he spat angrily as he raised his hand to touch the lines on his face. Spotting the smudge of blood on his fingertips, he advanced towards her menacingly.

"I'm sorry" she apologized although her apology was fruitless and seemed to hold no weight.

"I'm going to make you pay for this" Taro roared .Yuuki closed her eyes, waiting for him to strike her. She was prepared for the pain, for the harsh blow but it didn't come.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" called a calm collected voice from a little distance away.

Yuuki looked up. She would recognize that voice anywhere. "Akira-san" she exclaimed in surprise. He was picture of calm, walking slowly towards the group. Yet to Yuuki, he had never looked so dangerous and so intimidating. He had his hands in the pockets of his cream colored pants. Yuuki hadn't noticed it before but now that she had a good look at him, he was really handsome. He was wearing cream colored pants, a dark chocolate brown silk shirt with light blue patterns on it and a matching cream colored jacket. It was part of his trademark Italian fashion sense.

"Who the fuck are you?" Taro spat.

"Me? I'm Akira" he replied casually and Taro looked bewildered.

"I really hate people who waste my time" Taro remarked. "Go get him boys".

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" Akira advised casually and the men stilled. "See, I'm a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Judo and even Capoeira" he added conversationally.

"GET HIM!" Taro shouted and Mikio ran forward with the rest.

Yuuki watched with avid fascination as Akira dodged the on coming punches. He dodged Mikio and aimed a kick to his abdomen meanwhile also ducking as Taro delivered a kick to his head. It wasn't long before Taro and his men were too injured to fight, they were unable to escape the tornado that was Akira.

"I warned you" Akira said as he surveyed the men sprawled on the ground, groaning in pain.

"Who are you?" Mikio groaned, unable to process the fact that one man seemed to have had just bashed the shit out of five men.

"Me?" Akira asked casually "I'm Mimasaka Akira". Mikio's eyes widened upon hearing Akira's full name being uttered. There was no doubt that the Mimasaka name held great power and invoked a great sense of fear in those that heard it. Gesturing to the others, he scrambled to his feet running in the opposite direction. The rest hurriedly followed him. Taro seemed to take his time.

"This isn't over Mimasaka Akira" he growled and then clutching his arm he ran after his men.

Turning to Yuuki, Akira quickly rushed over to her. "Yuuki-chan are you alright?" he asked and she nodded.

"Thank you Akira-san" she said and bowed.

"Yuuki-chan" he replied with a laugh "there's no need to thank me, we're friends. Friends don't need to say thank you to each other". She smiled at him. It was one of those warm, heart melting smiles.

"How come you haven't left yet?" he asked.

"I was looking for my car keys but I couldn't find them and then those idiots came over to hassle me" she replied.

"I still have the spare car key that you gave me in case of an emergency so how about I call one of my men to get it from my house?" he asked.

"Thank you so much Akira-san, sorry to trouble you" she said and he waved a hand dismissively. Yuuki waited patiently as Akira made a phone call to one of his men.

"Ok" Akira said as he got off the phone "Kyuu said he'd be here in about ten minutes".

"Akira-san, I don't know how to thank you enough" she said. "Without you, I don't know what would have happened".

"Yuuki-chan, no matter what, no matter where, I'll always be there to help you ok?" he asked and she nodded with a smile. "By the way, have you enrolled Rei in school yet?" he asked.

"No" she replied "not yet".

"Oh, well how about enrolling her in Eitoku kindergarten?" he suggested. "It's very close to your house and I might be able to keep an eye on her once in a while. The F4 lounge is still there and we still go there to hang out, so I would see her quite often".

"Hmm I'll think about it" Yuuki replied.

"Well if it's about the money for school fees then I'll be more than happy to help you out" Akira said kindly and Yuuki shook her head.

"It's not the money that's the problem; I have the money that Mimura-san left for me so I don't have to worry at all. It's just that I don't want her to end up like Tsukushi did and have a hard time" Yuuki voiced her concern. "I think I'm going to send Rei to my old kindergarten".

"Well you'd better apply quickly, I heard that the deadline for new applicants to most schools is already over" Akira advised.

"Yes" Yuuki replied just as a black car pulled up alongside them.

"Boss" a man greeted as he wound down the window.

"Masao" Akira greeted "thank you for bringing the key".

"Its ok boss" Masao replied as he handed Akira the key through the window before driving away.

"Here you go Yuuki-chan" Akira said as he handed her the key. "Just be careful and drive safe ne?" he asked.

"Sure, thank you Akira-san" she replied as she got into the car.

Yuuki watched as he waved to her from the pavement outside Rui's mansion and a smile grazed her lips. Akira was a good man and she was glad that he was a big part of her and Rei's lives. He had helped her thorough the toughest times and she wasn't sure what she would have done without him.

* * *

"Nishikado-san why don't you take a seat there and I'll see what we can do about your hand" Minako said as she led him into the room that she'd used earlier as a dressing room. He sat down on one of the arm chairs while she moved over to the cupboard to take the first aid kit.

Spotting a set of keys on the coffee table in front of him Soujiroh picked them up. "Is this yours?" he asked Minako as she walked over to him with the kit in her hands.

She frowned "no it's not mine. Oh wait! I know, it must be Yuuki-chan's. She must have left it here earlier when she came to deliver my dress" Minako replied as the sudden realization dawned on her.

"Yuuki-chan's keys" Soujiroh said mostly to himself. "By the way Minako-chan, how do you know Yuuki-chan?"

"She's my designer" Minako replied.

"Designer?"

"Yes, she works for Michael Corte, the famous American designer. But I only got to know Yuuki-chan when Michael sent her in his stead to check that the dress was alright on the day of our engagement" she said as she dabbed some antiseptic cream onto Soujiroh's cuts.

"So it was her that I saw that day" he whispered to himself.

"Sorry?" Minako asked looking up at him.

"Oh nothing" he replied. _It seems that Yuuki-chan made it after all. I always knew she was good at designing and now for her to be working with Michael Corte; she must really be some designer _Soujiroh thought to himself. "Are you going to see Yuuki-chan again?" he asked Minako conversationally.

"Yes" she replied "I'm going to see her on Monday, I've asked her to design my wedding gown and my reception gown as well".

"Oh" Soujiroh replied as the seed of hope in his heart began to grow.

"How do you know Yuuki-chan, Nishikado-san?" Minako asked as she bandaged his hand.

"She's an old friend" he answered. _That happened to be infatuated with me and whom I supposedly did something to because she left and I couldn't locate her for seven years…And now she's back_ he added mentally.

"She's a nice person ne?" Minako asked.

"Yeah" he agreed "an extremely nice person".

"You know it was Yuuki-chan that helped me out tonight. She did my make up and hair for me because the servant spilled tea and cake all over me and everything got ruined".

"You said that Yuuki-chan made this dress didn't you?" Soujiroh asked and she nodded.

"Yeah apparently she wore a dress like this to Domyouji-san's wedding and she made this dress based on that one that she wore" Minako replied and Soujiroh found himself remembering the way Yuuki had looked at Tsukasa and Tsukushi's wedding. He remembered the turquoise dress and the way it fitted her slim, slender figure like a second skin. Her hair had been long and straight. It exuded the flowery scent that he'd come to associate as her scent. Her hair had felt so smooth, like silk; he remembered tugging on it during Tsukasa's wedding reception to get her attention. He shook his head wildly as if to empty it of his thoughts.

"Are you alright Nishikado-san?" Minako asked looking at him with concern. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine Minako-chan. Thank you for treating my cuts" he formally said as he stood up, Yuuki's car keys clutched tightly in his hand.

"It's no problem" Minako said shyly. With a small smile, he made his way to the door when he stopped. He had an idea; it was like a light bulb turning on in his head when he realized that the door of an opportunity was right there staring at him in the face. All he had to do was open it.

"Minako-chan" he said slowly, deciding to choose his words carefully.

"Hmmm?" she asked sweetly and Soujiroh immediately felt the guilt pooling in his stomach.

"Err…Minako-chan, I was wondering that since you're my fiancée; we should make decisions together, especially those concerning our wedding right?" he asked.

"Yes" she replied happily.

"I was wondering, when are you going to see Yuuki-chan next? I thought I might accompany you. As your fiancé I should be around when you are getting your gowns, just to tell you if I like them or not. After all, those gowns are meant for you to look good for me right?"

"Yes" she replied with a smile and he felt his guilt increasing.

"So when are you going to meet Yuuki-chan next?" he asked.

"I'm going to be seeing her on Monday" Minako said "would you like to follow me?" she asked.

"Sure, I don't have anything on, on Monday so I guess it's a date then?" he said and she blushed.

Actually, the truth was that he had about seven different appointments on Monday and he'd have to make a mental note to tell his secretary to cancel them. He had far more important things to attend to. He couldn't stand the way things were between Yuuki and him. Even if he didn't love her, he still cared for her as a friend. It bothered him that they weren't even friends at this point. Well she didn't openly say that she didn't want to be friends with him but her actions spoke loudly enough.

"Maybe we could go and have lunch after that?" Minako suggested.

Soujiroh plastered a fake smile on his face. Minako was pushing her luck. "Sure" he replied although he wasn't too keen on it. Pocketing Yuuki's keys he walked towards the door. He was determined to patch things up with her and make things go back to the way they were before. With that thought in mind, he headed back down to where the party was in full swing; leaving Minako alone in the room. Monday would come soon enough.

* * *

Minako watched as Soujiroh walked out the door, a smile on her face. He was finally warming up to her. This was what she had wanted from the very beginning; to make the wild, untamed Nishikado Soujiroh hers. She would do her best to make sure that his heart would eventually belong to her. A shrill ringing pierced the air and Minako hurriedly answered her cell phone.

"Moshi, moshi. Oh onisan what happened? You sound stressed out. Really? Even Taro-san? Are you sure it was Mimasaka Akira? I don't remember him leaving the party. I don't know much about him. He seems like a very nice guy though. Although I expect that he can be really dangerous if someone close to him is threatened. So what did they fight about? A girl? I wonder who this girl is; she must be very special for him to protect her like that. Don't worry onisan, I'll help you out. You are my darling brother after all. Alright, I'll see you tomorrow, bye".

Minako hurried out of the room after her phone call with her older brother Minami. Out of all of Soujiroh's friends, Akira seemed to be the most mysterious. Needless to say that Rui was mysterious as well but Akira bordered along the lines of dangerous mystery. His father was a prominent figure in the underworld and this itself was testament to how powerful the Mimasaka family actually was. Although Akira had never displayed anything other than pleasantness and a friendly disposition, he was dangerous in the sense that no one really knew what lay beneath. Minako had once heard Tsukushi say that when the need arose, Akira had the potential to be more dangerous than Tsukasa, Soujiroh and Rui combined and that was certainly saying something. According to Tsukushi, when Akira got angry, everyone ran for the hills including the remaining F4. Minako would have to find out more about Akira, she was curious about him.

* * *

Yuuki sighed as she looked at the clock. Midnight. She'd just gotten back from the Hanazawa mansion, driving home at a breakneck speed. She collapsed into a chair as she mentally recounted the night's events. She could have picked up Rei along the way but she didn't want to disturb the little girl's sleep. She'd read a book that stated that children were supposed to have at least ten hours of sleep a day and she didn't want to disrupt the possible ten hours that Rei might be doing. She felt a pang of sadness as her eyes landed on a framed picture hanging on the wall. It was a picture of Yuuki, her elder sister Reiko and her brother in law Mimura.

She hadn't been in New York long when tragedy struck. Her beloved brother in law, whom she considered closer than a brother, was killed in a car accident. Reiko had been distraught. Yuuki could understand the feeling. After all, Reiko had given everything up for the one person she loved with all her heart; only to have him cruelly snatched away from her in an instant. Yuuki had watched helplessly from the sidelines as Reiko slowly spiraled into depression. She had even tried to take her own life a few times and if Yuuki hadn't been there to stop her…She shuddered to think of what might have happened. Everything seemed to have happened at the same time, Rei was born merely weeks after Mimura's death. Things seemed to be on the verge of collapsing, until Akira arrived.

* * *

**Monday Morning**

Yuuki walked into the posh building that was **Corte designs**. She was supposed to be meeting Minako soon and she wanted to get everything prepared. She hadn't gotten much sleep in the past two nights because she had wanted to finish off the designs for Minako's dress. Minako was actually, by right, Michael's client but due to his busy schedule he had asked Yuuki to take over Minako's dresses. Yuuki was fine with it; after all it gave her more scope as a designer. Despite Minako's dresses still coming under the Michael Corte label, Yuuki was grateful for the opportunity. Apart from Akira, Michael was the other person who had helped her out the most. He'd taken her under his wing after seeing some of the clothes that she'd designed for the small boutique that she had been working for at the time.

"Good morning Yuuki-chan" Yuuki's co-worker, Kira greeted cheerfully.

"Morning Kira-chan" she greeted back "is Michael in his office?"

"Yes but unfortunately he seems to be in one of his moods today" Kiraa replied sharing a knowing look with Yuuki.

"It's alright" Yuuki smiled, I'll go and see what's wrong". Pushing open the door to his office she was hit in the face by a stack of papers that just happened to be flying in her direction. "Michael" she called looking around. The place was strewn with papers and Michael's office looked like a war zone. "What the"-

"Oh Yuuki! Oh Yuuki my darling" he exclaimed as he cat walked towards her. "Oh it's a tragedy!" he wailed dramatically causing Yuuki to roll her eyes. "Oh! Oh! Oh! Yuuki darling, it's just awful, I have all these designs but I have no color schemes and it's due for my big Japanese debut in four weeks, whatever shall I do?"

"Alright Michael, maybe you should calm down first?" she suggested and instructed him to take three deep breaths. "Now let's see if I can help" she said as she looked over her papers. "Now how about if we take this design and use an earthy color scheme? Like all browns and greens? It would really bring out the floral pattern on the skirt".

"Oh Yuuki darling, that's genius! I knew I hired you for a reason!" Michael exclaimed as he began jotting down notes.

"And how about on this one we do a classic theme, like a silvery grey?"

"Yuuki darling, brilliant! Simply brilliant!" he announced excitedly.

"Now I just need a theme for my debut fashion show" he said looking thoughtful.

"Well, this is just a suggestion, but how about if you do a show based upon the seasons? For example with the seasons spring, summer, autumn and winter, why don't you design your dresses in accordance to the theme?" she asked.

"MARVELOUS!" Michael shrieked, jumping up and down and clapping his hands together.

"Uh, thank you?" Yuuki replied.

"This is genius Yuuki-darling! Now because you've helped me out I'm going to give you and extended time period to showcase your designs" Michael replied.

"Time period?" Yuuki asked. "I thought I was only allowed to design one dress?"

"Well darling, now you're going to have to come up with a whole lot more since I'm giving you a half an hour time slot" he replied.

"HALF AN HOUR??" She exclaimed gasping in shock.

"Yes darling" Michael replied "half an hour, now do close your mouth Yuuki darling. It's quite unbecoming for a lady to stare like that".

"You're not joking are you Michael?" she asked unable to believe her luck.

"No Yuuki pie, I'm not joking" he said irritably "although I will revoke it, if you keep asking me".

"No, no I won't ask again. Thank you Michael, thank you so much! I promise I won't let you down" she replied and Michael smiled at her.

"I know you won't muffin, I know you won't" he replied. "Now shouldn't you be in your office? You're supposed to be meeting Minako today aren't you? In about two minutes I should say?" Michael said looking at his watch.

"OH!" Yuuki exclaimed and hurried to her office. Thankfully Minako hadn't arrived yet and it gave Yuuki a little time to tidy up her office. It had only been a couple of minutes when there was a knock on her door. "Come in" she called and Minako stepped into the room. Since the office was new, it had been quite bare. She had yet to decorate it and vowed to do it when she had the time.

"Good Morning Yuuki-chan" she greeted with a smile.

"Good Morning Minako-san, please have a seat" Yuuki said gesturing to one of the two chairs in front of her desk.

"I hope you don't mind but my brother and my fiancé will be coming later on" Minako told Yuuki.

"Sure it's no problem, its better if you have a family member to sort of critique the dress for you as well" Yuuki replied pleasantly.

"So what designs do you have for me?" Minako asked as Yuuki brought out her sketch book.

"Well I have about six different designs for your reception gown and for your wedding gown I have about twelve different designs. I've created these eighteen designs especially for you. Although there are many of Michael's other designs in his catalogue that we can modify to suit your taste" Yuuki replied.

There was another knock on the door. "Come in" Yuuki called and this time a handsome young man stepped through the door. He was tall and lean and reminded Yuuki of a male model. He was well dressed in a business suit that was obviously made just for him. His hair was styled in a way that only helped to emphasize his sharp featured.

"Hello" he greeted "I remember you, I bumped into you the other day. I think it was the day of Minako's engagement" he replied.

"Oh yes, I remember" Yuuki said with a laugh. "I'm Yuuki" she introduced herself.

"I'm Minami, Minako's elder brother" he said holding out his hand to shake hers. "I hope you don't mind but I thought I might help Minako with deciding on her dresses. I'm trying to make myself useful as a big brother" he joked and Yuuki chuckled.

"Sure, it's no problem" she replied.

"Well I think I like that design" Minako said pointing to a royal blue gown. The top of the gown was a tube that slowly smoothed out and had a train at the back. The silver embroidery on the gown was in a floral pattern with crystals in the middle of each flower.

"I actually have a sample of that gown. It's just a plain midnight blue gown but it's done in the same style as the one that you chose. You could try it on for size and so I can measure it. Then based upon the prototype, I can make a new one for you with the embroidery and the crystals" Yuuki explained.

"Ok, sure I'll try it on" Minako said.

"What do you think of this gown Minami-san?" Yuuki asked.

"Well I think this color would look nice on Minako" he replied.

Yuuki had just brought out the sample of the dress that Minako had wanted to try on when a shrill ringing pierced the atmosphere.

"Sorry it's an overseas call. Oh I know! Yuuki-chan, since you're roughly about the same build as me why don't you try it on. Then I can at least see how the color looks like when it is worn" Minako asked.

"But I"- Yuuki said although Minako didn't appear to be listening, she was preoccupied with her phone call.

"I think Minako is right, if you put it on Yuuki-chan it would be easy to see how the color looks when it is worn. You're about the same complexion as Minako so the result would be as accurate if she wore it too" Minami suggested and Yuuki nodded. It didn't look like she had a choice. If she wanted to keep Minako as her client, she'd have to make her happy.

Ten minutes later and Yuuki was standing on a platform being poked and prodded by Yuma. "What do you think?" Yuuki asked Minami. He was staring at her, eyeing her up and down.

"It looks great Yuuki-chan" he replied. "Although come to think of it, I think this dress would look better on you than it would on Minako" Minami joked and Yuuki laughed.

"Don't say that Minami-san or Minako-san might get angry" she replied with a chuckle.

Minako put her phone conversation on pause for a while to look at Yuuki properly. "I like it, I think it'll be this one" she said and promptly went back to her phone call.

It was then that another knock on the door sounded. "Come in" Yuuki called for the third time that morning. She turned around to greet whom she supposed was Minako's fiancé but instead she came face to face with the last person she had expected to see standing before her.

* * *

Soujiroh stared at the image before him. Yuuki was standing on some wooden block wearing a blue gown and she looked absolutely ravishing. He felt the front of his pants tighten as his mini Soujiroh began to get excited. _This is absolutely ridiculous _he thought to himself, forcing his brain to think of horrific thoughts to calm his member. _For god's sake Soujiroh, this is Yuuki-chan. You're not supposed to think that way about Yuuki-chan. This is absolutely pathetic!_ He scolded himself.

Although as a hormone ravaged male, he couldn't deny the fact that she looked simply breath taking in the gown. It was as if the room seemed to blur and the only thing clear in his mind was Yuuki in the gown. Although at the moment, she looked shocked out of her mind. _Oh yes, that's right _Soujiroh thought to himself. _She has no idea that I'm Minako's fiancé. Although I wonder what she has to say about that?_

She appeared to be taking a couple of deep breaths and after a few seconds she had composed herself. "Nishikado-san" she said. "I had no idea that you were Minako-san's fiancé".

"Yuuki-chan" Soujiroh said mimicking the exact way that she had spoken "I had no idea where you were for seven years". She paled and he cheered in triumph mentally. _What do you have to say to that eh Yuuki chan?_

Although he didn't have the opportunity to hear what she had to say as Minako cut in. "Although I know that the two of you sort of know each other, I shall introduce you anyway. Nishikado-san, this is Yuuki-chan my designer. Yuuki-chan, this is Nishikado Soujiroh my fiancé". The last few words seemed to awaken Yuuki out of her daze and she smiled politely at Soujiroh.

"Congratulations Nishikado-san" she replied.

"Sorry that I didn't tell you about Nishikado-san earlier Yuuki-chan, I wanted it to be a bit of a surprise" Minako exclaimed.

"Oh" was all Yuuki said.

Soujiroh had woken up at six in the morning, to prepare himself for his meeting with Yuuki. He'd never woken up that early voluntarily in his entire life but he wanted to be prepared to the best of his ability. He'd even taken a piece of lined paper and had written down all the questions that he wanted to ask her. At present moment, that piece of paper was firmly tucked in his back pocket and although he couldn't see what was written on it, he'd memorized every word. There were so many questions that he wanted to ask. But the one question was…where to start?

**

* * *

**

**Author's note: **Ok sorry that this chapter took so long to update. It's just that I've been having a lot of trouble with this chapter, which is why it seems kind of long winded. But I do hope you read it and review it anyway. I would be very glad to receiver any suggestions that you can offer. I need all the help I can get. It would be much appreciated. If anyone also has any particular happenings or an idea of a scene that they desperately want put into the next chapter, let me know too and I'll see what I can do. And I'm sorry to all those people who like Rei. I know she wasn't in this chapter but she will be in the next chapter. I promise to respond to every one of your e-mails so if you have a question you want to ask, please feel free to do so!And sorry if there are any gramatical and spelling mistakes, my beta is out of town...and won't have internet access so i thought i should post this chapter soon!

**Next Chapter: **Rei gets enrolled in school.


	6. Important

This is a general author's post that I will be posting in all my stories…I've recently been introduced to livejournal and I have been thinking about posting my stories up on livejournal because I would like to have everything that I've written in one place, and not scattered all over the place …and I'll also be doing stories that center around my original characters in some of my fics. For example I will do separate stories for Orion, Maya, Harlan and Terry from my Family man fan fiction piece.

I will also be posting up my original works up but for that I need a place. If anyone who is livejournal savy and is educated in its ways please let me know because I desperately need help with working it out. I've been deciding between livejournal and blogspot for a while now so please let me know if you would be interested in reading my stuff if I post them up on either livejournal or blogspot…and please let me know which one you'd prefer cause I can't seen to make the choice… The stories I would be posting would be:

**HARRY POTTER**

-Meeting the son-in-law

-Save the Dragons for goodness sake

**HANA YORI DANGO**

-Suki Yuki

-All I need

**SMALLVILLE**

-The family man

**BOYS BEFORE FLOWERS**

-Yi Jung's family

-Yi Jung's (in)sane family

And as for my original works, I will be posting one that I have been writing for a while now called As the cherry blossoms bloom.

**ORIGINAL WORKS**

**AS THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS BLOOM**

Akira Mimura is a half Japanese, half Eurasian girl. Her father was disowned by his wealthy plutocrat family when he chose to marry Akira's mother, Kendra Williamson, whom he'd met whilst studying in University in Melbourne Australia. Akira's parents in a futile attempt to reconcile with her paternal grandparents, take a trip to Japan. There in Japan, the then five year old Akira befriends a boys she meets in a playground and they vow to meet again, giving each other a little token to remember each other by. Unfortunately fate is such that they don't meet until eighteen years later. But life is complicated for the pair and neither realize that they've met before. Obstacles get in the way for the pair and it's still uncertain if they will fight the barriers keeping them apart or lose their true love forever.

**LOST IN SEOUL**

Sasha Mason has finally done it. She's made the move to Korea to be with her fiancé Matthew James who is a film producer. Throwing caution to the wind, she heads to Korea landing a job as an English teacher. Unfortunately due to unforeseen tragic circumstances Sasha soon finds herself alone in Korea with no home, no job and no knowledge of the Korean language. Just when she thinks that life is hopeless, the last person she expects, come to her aid. Sasha learns that sometimes life deals you with troubles so that when you overcome them you'll understand the true meaning of happiness. Follow Sasha along on a journey of life, love, friendship and self discovery as she attempts to survive in a world that she barely knows.

Well what do you think? I'll also be posting up new stories that I have ideas for. So review this post and let me know if you'd rather I continue on fanfiction and post up my originals on my blog or if you'd rather I post everything on my blog. And which you prefer too, livejournal or .

Thanks guys,

Sheen


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